Visions of Destiny
by Demon Kaizoku
Summary: *DROPPED* When Sesshoumaru is revisited by an old friend, he is asked to do a simple task: Seek the girl that travels with his half brother. Could it be that simple, or is there more to this task than meets the eye? Just what's in store for Kagome?
1. Decline

Hello, and welcome to my Inuyasha fanfiction! This following fiction is one of the few fictions I've been able to work on. Its rating is for the following: violence, language, and chances of sexual content later on. For those who dislike any of the following, do not read this and find something else.

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Special Thanks: **TLPeach** (Beta.)

**Warning For the Readers**: There might be a few spoilers, like a few things that occur later in the anime/manga. Sooner or later, in the future of this fic, there might be one or two things mentioned from the 3rd Inuyasha Movie.

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Legend:

"Quotes" - Speech.  
**Bold - "Miscellaneous Youkai Speech."**  
_Italic - Thoughts.  
**Bold/Italic - Flashback/Dream.**_

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Translations:

I'm sure some of you readers know at least most of what these words mean, but I am being fortunate as to posting the common or ones for those who go by the English than the Japanese. You can probably tell I'm more of the Japanese fan than the dub.

**Okaasan **- Mother.  
**Otouto **- Little Brother.  
**Otousan **- Father.  
**Ojiisan **– Grandfather.  
**Tanuki **– Raccoon/ Racoon-dog.  
**Kaze no Kizu **- Wind Scar.  
**Kongousouha **- Diamond Spear Blast.  
**Jyaki **- Evil Aura.  
**Nintoujou **- Staff of the Heads.  
**Youki **- Demonic Aura.  
**Chichiue **- Father: Polite.

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Disclaimer: I do not own the anime or manga of Inuyasha. It belongs to Rumiko Takahashi!

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Visions of Destiny

Chapter 1

**Decline**

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Two wooden doors slid open.

She looked through the darkness, her caramel eyes stopping at the old well. One hand moved to tuck a strand of hair behind one ear, while the other moved to adjust the yellow sling of her camping bag around her shoulder. After doing so, she started down the frail steps to the well.

Hearing a distant voice call out, Kagome stopped. She turned to see a middle-aged woman with short black hair standing at the entrance. With a warm smile on her face, the woman walked down to Kagome.

"You do have everything, right?"

"Hai, Mama."

"Even the packages of ramen? The ones your friend Inuyasha loves?"

She sighed. Heaven forbid for those flavored noodles. How nice it would be if Inuyasha could go without them for at least a good week or two.

Kagome turned to leave, but her eyes caught something she didn't see a second ago. She spotted a plastic bag her okaasan was holding against her chest. Kagome turned to look over at her with curiosity in her eyes.

"Before you leave, I have something for you."

She handed Kagome the bag she once held. Kagome blinked, slowly digging her hand in with suspicion. She brought out what looked to be a thin, white case. She opened it. Her eyes widened in both shock and surprise before she turned to look back at her okaasan.

"Happy birthday, Kagome."

Kagome moved over to give her okaasan a hug. How could she have possibly forgotten her own birthday? I guess exams at school didn't help her any.

"Arigatou, Mama; I'll put it on right now."

She pulled out a silver-chained necklace with a blue gem embedded in the middle. Closing the clasps together around her neck, she turned to smile at her okaasan.

"I'll do my best to return as soon as I can."

"Honey, there's no need to worry over me. Take your time and help your friends."

Kagome nodded and continued down to the well. She sat herself upon the lip of the well and turned to wave at her okaasan. After her goodbye, she jumped in. Once the bright, engulfing light passed through her, Kagome arrived at the other side.

_My name is Higurashi, Kagome. I was once your average teenager celebrating her fifteenth birthday. I had friends, good scores, and an all out wonderful life. This soon changed when my otouto Souta went off to feed Buyo. He was off searching for our neko in a small shrine, which had an abandoned well this whole time! He ran to get me, after being spooked off by an eerie presence. To calm him down, I searched the whole room and ended up finding Buyo. I brought the neko in my arms and told him that there was nothing to be afraid of._

_Boy was I wrong…_

_The wooden planks that closed the opening of the well by a seal were destroyed. A centipede youkai had come out from the well, sensing the Shikon no Tama inside of my body. I was dragged back down into the well with it. That was when I realized I arrived in the Warring State Period. I didn't believe any of this at first. Me, go through a well with a strange looking centipede and find my well as a portal to another era? It took me some time before I was convinced. While in that time, I met Inuyasha, a hanyou that was pinned against an old tree by an arrow. Once I removed the arrow that was shot by my so-called ancestor Kikyou, was when the quest I least expected to happen would actually happen._

_While on our search for the jewel fragments, we bumped into a few new faces on the way. All of them ended up becoming our new companions and helped us out on our adventures._

_First, we bumped into a cute, yet mischievous kitsune name Shippou. Shippou wasn't on great terms with us, so it was only natural that Inuyasha wasn't making things any better. When things didn't seem to get any worse, a duo of youkai by the names of Hiten and Manten appeared. We found Shippou's otousan killed, skinned, and worn around Manten's wide waist. These youkai were known as the Thunder Brothers. While Manten died in battle, Hiten went into a state of anger and attacked Inuyasha. Soon after, Hiten too was finally taken care of. At first, Inuyasha was afraid and thought both Shippou and I had died at this point. I couldn't really blame him; a bright blue aura surrounded us as if we were like spirits. However, it turned out that Shippou's otousan was protecting us. Nevertheless, Inuyasha's facial expression priceless._

_Not too long after, we met the one and only lecherous houshi Miroku. Like Shippou, Miroku and Inuyasha weren't on friendly terms. His special ability was soon revealed: Kazaana, a rip in the palm of his hand he received from his otousan. The Kazaana had begun with his ojiisan's generation, no thanks to Naraku for cursing the rest of Miroku's family line. It's a powerful gale of wind that can suck just about anything into its void. The more the Kazaana is used, slowly, the bigger it'll get. If the Kazaana were to get any bigger, Miroku's chances of getting sucked in would increase. Like Inuyasha, Miroku is also after Naraku. Naraku was the one who caused the rip in the palm of his hand to even exist. This was one thing that made Inuyasha and Miroku more agreeable to one another. Of course, he scarred me enough as it is by asking me to bear his child and groping at my ass!_

_We also met a friend of his: a tanuki named Hachi. He also helped us on our adventures when we needed it._

_Lastly, we met a girl a year or two older name Sango, with her neko-like companion Kirara. Her family was once a huge line of taijiya. She wields a massive bone boomerang called Hiraikotsu as her weapon. She once had a sibling like I, which was one thing we both could relate to when we barely knew one another. She had an otouto she cared for, Kohaku._

_Sango's family and comrades were off on a mission for one in need, but the tables turned on them and it was all a trap. Everyone around her she knew was annihilated. Kohaku, the otouto she cared for and loved stabbed her with his sickle, under possession from the intruder around the castle. Once the possession on Kohaku was broken, was also the day he died; or so we thought. It turned out that Naraku had Kohaku under his control with a jewel shard and erased all of his memories. Kohaku didn't even remember Sango, which pained her to no end._

_Another one of us was added onto our team of vengeance towards Naraku._

_It has been a good, long two years since I first met Inuyasha and the others. I just turned seventeen this morning. Today is also the day of the two-year anniversary of my arrival in this time period._

"Hey, I'm back!"

Kagome yelled from in the well. No response came. She found this strange, but shrugged her concern away. She climbed up the vines that grew from in the well.

No one was at the well waiting for her. Not even a certain hanyou who usually leaned against it in agitation. Maybe they all were back at the village, plotting their next move for the shikon shards that awaited them. Still, the fact that Inuyasha wasn't at the well waiting for her made Kagome worry a little. It just wasn't like him to not be there.

As she brought herself out from the well, Kagome's head shot up by a familiar presence.

_I sense jewel fragments nearby. They're coming from in the village. The village!_

Kagome quickly made her way through the forest and into the village as fast as her legs could take her.

_That's why no one was at the well; they must be at the village fighting off a youkai! Why didn't Inuyasha come through my time and tell me?_

When she arrived at the village, yells and high-pitched cries were heard throughout the whole location. Kagome didn't have her bow or any of arrows with her. She had misplaced them before returning home.

She looked around desperately for signs of anything like her weapon nearby. She spotted a bow and three simple-made arrows leaning against the wall of a hut. She ran over and snatched them, hoping whoever owned them could find a way to forgive her.

She continued running, searching for where the source of destruction was held. She was soon answered by an enormous explosion from the distance.

She turned and ran off into that direction.

_Don't worry, I'm on my way!_

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Clouds of shattered earth from the outskirts of the village started fading in the withering winds. Homes at the village borders were left deserted and generally destroyed.

Inuyasha jumped back from the destruction he inflicted, landing beside the others. The moment that his ears picked up an irritable hiss, low curses began to spill from his mouth while his hands tightly grasped onto Tessaiga's hilt.

"Damnit, the Kaze no Kizu has no effect!"

Standing next to him and closest was Miroku, whose eyes didn't leave the battlefield from in front of him.

"Do you think this youkai has a jewel fragment?"

"Probably."

Another hiss came. Both allies turned, their eyes searching the location for any traces of the youkai. Everything from all around them remained quiet and still, with the exception of their breaths silently echoing.

The hazy dust in the air from the Kaze No Kizu's damage soon diminished, revealing their enemy.

A snake youkai stood before them, perhaps ranging taller than the tallest of trees. Its scales were a glossy green, with a pair of slit crimson eyes. The youkai gave off an amused chuckle.

**"Try all you may, hanyou, nothing will affect me."**

Inuyasha gave the snake a cold glare.

"Watch me, you bastard..."

The snake bellowed in laughter.

At this time, Inuyasha was preparing for another attack. No one berated him and got away with it. He couldn't go and try to penetrate its scales with the blade alone. He tried that already. That was one thing he figured without Kagome's help. He knew the snake must've had at least one shard that increased its defense. If there were more shards that increased its ability, he wasn't sure.

_I haven't tried that, yet. I need to figure out if this youkai has emitted a barrier or not. Kongousouha isn't needed for an ordinary youkai, so this should be enough..._

Inuyasha's hands braced tighter on Tessaiga's hilt. The blade began to change into a red hue. Sango, who sat on Kirara with Shippou, blinked curiously, while her arm was stretched to her back holding the Hiraikotsu. She turned to the houshi she knew.

"The youkai has a barrier?"

Miroku turned to look back at Sango.

"We don't know yet, I at least don't. I'd have to guess Inuyasha's risking to find out." Sango turned back to watch Inuyasha, seeing the Tessaiga's energy form with more power.

Why the snake youkai just remained to watch, no one knew. They either assumed it was stubborn, or letting Inuyasha give all he's got. Snake youkai were notorious for being thick-headed with both pride and cockiness; or so Sango told them.

**"Ooh, now what is the hanyou giving me?"** The snake egotistically chuckled as Inuyasha brought the Tessaiga back, jumping above the snake.

"Take this!" He shot out his weaker barrier attack. The snake laughed and easily twisted away with agility.

"Hell! He doesn't even need a barrier; he's fast enough to dodge as it is!"

**"I've already told you once and I'll only tell you once more, nothing affects me!"**

Inuyasha again glared at the youkai, letting a low growl rumble from down in his throat. The snake's eyes lowered at them.

**"I grow impatient, how about I stir things up a little?"**

The snake pulled its head back, its mouth starting to stretch in size. Inuyasha watched the snake's actions with one of odd glance. Over to the side Sango's eyes widened in sudden realization by the action it gave.

"It's about to spit acid!" She shouted. Miroku turned. He quickly ran over to Sango, who was already starting to lift off with Kirara. Sango's hand stretched out, grabbing his. She pulled Miroku up and had him sit behind her while Shippou remained on Kirara's head.

"Inuyasha, hop on!" Miroku shouted as Kirara headed out to Inuyasha.

"A little acid isn't going to hurt me!"

"Inuyasha, don't underestimate it! Snake youkai can spit out lots of acid. It could probably drown the village with all of its acid combined!" Sango shouted back. Inuyasha began to pale, turning back to the snake.

The snake shot out thick amounts of purple-colored acid towards Inuyasha. He dodged by jumping and landing on the snake's massive back. The ground where Inuyasha once stood was being eaten alive by the acid. Feeling something on its back, the snake lashed its tail out at him. Inuyasha dodged all of the tail's bombardments, causing the snake to hit itself.

**"Get off of me!"** The youkai shouted, trying to shake him off, but to no avail. With Sango, Miroku looked down at the eventful sight.

"Sango, is there anything else we should know about a snake youkai?"

"Not really..."

"Miroku-sama, Sango-chan!"

Both turned to see Kagome run towards them from below. Before Kagome approached the odor and substance of the acid, Kirara flew down to her. Kagome hopped on as Kirara descended back up.

"What did I miss?"

"We believe the youkai may have at least one jewel shard. It has strengthened in defense, causing Inuyasha's Kaze no Kizu to not be effective against it. He even tried to see if the youkai had the barrier, but it's just too fast!"

Kagome turned to look out, scanning the youkai's whole body for any jewel shards. She turned back soon after.

"It has four shards."

"No wonder we weren't having much success with it." Sango mumbled to herself.

"Kagome-sama, what should we do? If Inuyasha can't penetrate the scales or even catch up with the youkai's speed, how can we defeat it?"

The plotting had but only begun for everyone. Kagome started thinking and continued doing so, until something interesting finally popped into her concocting head.

"I think I've got it! Shippou, you're going to be a huge part of this."

"N-nani?" Shippou stuttered. Kagome beckoned the kitsune to move closer to her. Once he did, she began whispering into his ear, causing the little kit to jolt away.

"There's no way you're getting me to do that!"

"Please Shippou? I've brought more candy with me. I'll let you have as much as you like this time."

Shippou turned back to look at her, his eyes brightening up more at the magical words that rung in his ears.

"Really?"

Kagome nodded. Shippou soon gave in to her bribery. She knew his greatest weakness and had to use it against him. He sighed.

"There better be lots of candy."

Taking one of his illusion leaves out, Shippou jumped off of Kirara. While Shippou was on his way to the battlefield, Kagome turned back to the remaining Sango and Miroku.

"While Shippou distracts it, I'll get Inuyasha to come up here and listen to the rest of my plan."

Shippou landed on the back of the snake next to Inuyasha. He slowly started placing the leaf on the top of his head.

"What the hell?" Inuyasha muttered to himself. Shippou turned to glare at the hanyou's recent questioning comment.

"Say another word and you'll get it."

Inuyasha blinked in confusion. Was Shippou actually going to do something for once? His ears slowly began twitching, picking up a familiar voice from behind him.

_Kagome?_

Sure enough, the reincarnation of Kikyou was sitting on the back of Kirara with the houshi and taijiya. He jumped off of the snake, leaving Shippou behind and jumped up onto Kirara's back.

"What's Shippou doing?"

Kagome chuckled.

"You'll see. In the meantime, I found four shards on the top of the youkai's head."

Inuyasha turned, giving off a satisfied smirk. He was prepared to head back to the snake again, but was stopped by Kagome's hand on his shoulder.

"Wait, Inuyasha. I already have a plan in mind. That's why Shippou's down there; he's planning on distracting the youkai. While the youkai's speed decreases by distraction, I want you to go down and slash where the shards are. If my theory is right, the spot where the shards are lodged in should be its weakest and most tender spot."

Inuyasha scoffed.

"Whatever you say, but I don't see why you need the kit to distract it."

POOF!

Everyone including Kirara turned, staring at Shippou in disbelief. Shippou stood as tall and long as the snake youkai. As a matter of fact, Shippou had turned into a gigantic snake! Not that it was the main reason for them all to hold back their laughter right then. Shippou was always known to have a trademark whenever he transformed into any illusion.

Like the ribbon of his that resided on the top of his head.

They all couldn't hold it for another second more and began to laugh, tears coming out from their eyes. A vein appeared on Shippou's head and turned to hiss loudly at them.

"Shut up, right now!"

Kagome, the first to stop her cries of laughter noticed the youkai slither quickly behind him.

"Shippou, behind you!"

Shippou's oval-shaped head turned and shrieked at the snake that was coming towards him. Instantly, as if without thinking, Shippou wrapped his whole torso around the snake in a tight bind. Since Shippou had immovable lids, he couldn't blink, so he turned his head. He looked over at the binded snake in disbelief. Was he actually stopping the snake?

The snake hissed loudly.

**"Let go of me!"**

"Now, Inuyasha!"

"I'm on it!"

Inuyasha jumped off of Kirara, bringing Tessaiga out. Whirls of wind circled the blade. Shippou, who now formed into his pink balloon shape quickly floated off for dear life.

The snake looked up and froze like a deer caught in the headlights.

"KAZE NO KIZU!"

Three lines extended out to the snake from the blade, slaughtering its entire head in the process. Kagome held her body, shivering at the sound of the youkai's last, sickening hiss. All four shards flew from the explosion and fell to the ground.

"Kagome, purify the shards!"

The horrific scene of blood and decease before her was soon forgotten. Kirara landed on the ground, allowing Kagome to jump off. She rushed to the shards and picked them up. The once tainted shards, were now back to its light rosy shade.

Once the snake's jyaki disappeared, Inuyasha walked over to the snake's headless body and gave it a hard kick. Sango and Miroku soon followed once getting off of Kirara. Kirara was surrounded in flames and returned back into her smaller form before she also decided to pad over with the others. Kagome placed the shards in the bottle that she also had around her neck and walked over to them.

They were all looking down and laughing at Shippou. Miroku was waving his hand aimlessly, while Sango was patting Shippou on the head teasingly. Inuyasha was laughing at him, saying how ridiculous he looked and how he was actually useful to them all for once. She smiled.

_It's good to be ba-_

Shrills interrupted her track of thought. Shippou stood below her with a big lump on his head.

"Kagome, Inuyasha hit me!"

Yes, it was definitely great to be back from her final exams at school.

Her eyes slowly began to shut and her mouth started to open.

Inuyasha's eyes began twitching at her familiar actions and turned, trying to escape from the miko.

"Osuwari."

Inuyasha was greeted with open arms by the indented ground below him.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"Jaken-sama, look at what Rin has!"

Bell flowers, buttercups, dandelions, and even posies were mixed up in Rin's new bouquet. Jaken looked at the flowers in disgust and gave Rin a cold scowl. Noticing that Jaken wasn't in one of his good moods, Rin decided to go over and ask Sesshoumaru.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, do you think they're pretty?"

Sesshoumaru stopped to look down at the child who held the colorful flowers. He proved to not show any warmth or care in his amber eyes. After a small glance, he turned back and continued walking on.

"They're quite lovely, Rin."

Rin beamed in happiness. In fact, she was so happy with Sesshoumaru's comment that she started running in circles around the pack animal AhUn, and Jaken, making them both dizzy.

"Sesshoumaru-sama loves them!"

Our imp youkai's eyes began to spin in circles. He gave his head a nice shake, before crossing his arms around the Nintoujou.

"Rin, stop this nonsense, now!" Jaken spoke sternly, nearly stumbling on his own feet. Rin stopped to blink at the youkai for a moment, before she grinned at him and ignored his demand.

"Rin doesn't want to!" She giggled. Sesshoumaru turned from looking forward to down at the child.

"Rin, it would be best to leave AhUn alone..."

Rin immediately stopped and obeyed Sesshoumaru's wish. She turned from apologizing to AhUn and ran back to Sesshoumaru's side.

Jaken shook his head. Of course she listened to anything Sesshoumaru-sama said to her. Wait, did he only say AhUn? Oh, the agony Jaken felt!

After a few moments of more travel, Sesshoumaru came to a halt. Not noticing his stop in pace, Rin bumped into him while Jaken and AhUn stopped not too far behind. Jaken waddled over to Sesshoumaru, his eyes moving up to look at him.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, is something troubling you?"

Not bothering to show any sign of a response, Sesshoumaru turned to walk off into another direction. Both companions looked at each other in confusion.

"Wait, Sesshoumaru-sama, where are you going?"

"Jaken, watch over Rin while I am gone."

Sesshoumaru turned away from his company and started off deeper into the forest. It wasn't that he was moving far away from the others for their safety, but the fact he sensed a huge amount of youki further down the location. It seemed powerful, like Naraku, yet it wasn't him. This one seemed to be of a different rank. It was like the aura was so incredibly potent with power that Sesshoumaru had no other choice but to go to it. His youkai blood screamed out in excitement, causing him to dash through the woods. It had been ages since he last fought against a strong opponent.

Sesshoumaru came to a stop. His eyes began scanning throughout the scenery from left to the right.

_I know you're out there…_

Birds from above in the trees flew off into the sky. Sesshoumaru turned to one side, searching each section of the forest one by one. He unconsciously laid his hand around Toukijin's hilt, hearing the sound of a twig snap.

Something from in the darkness jumped out from behind.

He turned to feel his blade clash against a thinner blade. The silhouette from in the shadows smirked in amusement.

"I did not think you could go so low as to attack from behind." Sesshoumaru calmly spoke. The contours of the mouth in front of Sesshoumaru formed into a grin.

"I must say, when we last dueled, you barely managed to block my first attack."

Sesshoumaru did not bother retorting back to his unseen adversary. He pushed Toukijin forward to his opponent's blade. This didn't even make it budge. The lean sword was stronger than Sesshoumaru had anticipated. This was no ordinary sword that of a human's. Such power he sensed from the weapon alone! Sesshoumaru looked up at it in his calm and stoic manner. No one had ever been able to withstand Toukijin's evil jyaki with such ease that it made its energy look dull. It was obvious that this being was neither human nor hanyou, but that of a powerful youkai.

The silhouette kept straight and poise, holding its sword in place underneath Toukijin with only one hand. Sesshoumaru's eyes slowly began to change red; his force on the other's increasing. He remained in his decent matter as best as he could, keeping his blood from boiling in impatience.

His challenger, the only opponent with a worthy amount of youki since his last battle with Naraku wasn't giving him any effort at all!

The opponent pulled its sword back, allowing Toukijin to have the upper hand. With stealth, Sesshoumaru's contender pulled its blade away, dodged Toukijin's fallen force, and flipped over to land behind him.

Picking up the sound of metal slashing through the air, Sesshoumaru twisted around and clashed back with the other blade. The same voice from a moment ago spoke again with diverseness.

"It seems that we aren't getting anywhere with this, are we?"

After saying that, it disappeared and reappeared many feet away from Sesshoumaru.

Sesshoumaru didn't hesitate charging forth to it.

With the shadows in the forestry casting off into a different direction by the sun, the outline of Sesshoumaru's competitor slowly began to reveal. However, there was something he was still able to see, even from within the darkness.

Those ice-blue eyes.

Its hand tightened around the blade's hilt, pulling the sword back. The pale blue gem that sheltered in between the top of the blade's hilt started to faintly glow. The blade began pulsing.

Sesshoumaru noticed this and it caught his interest. This warrior proved itself that it was a youkai by the presence of its youki alone. This youkai was without a doubt the one to ever stand the longest against him.

The blade started to glow an iridescent blue. The sword was slowly brought back to one side of the figure after it moved one foot behind the other. With not another moment wasted, its arm swung back out horizontally, sending out a gigantic blast of energy.

Sesshoumaru's lips pursed. He took off into the sky, easily dodging the bright blast. He looked back down at the blast's damage and simply smirked.

Not only where he once stood, but for many miles behind was covered in thick ice.

_I thought so..._

He landed back on the ground, his boots balanced on the ice.

"This battle is over." He stated, returning Toukijin back into its sheath. The rival leaned its back against the nearest tree and crossed its arms to its chest.

"You still remember me?"

Sesshoumaru turned to one side and looked at the youkai with distaste.

"You seek something that deals with me.."

The youkai began to laugh.

"You always knew me well, Sesshoumaru-sama."

Sesshoumaru remained in place, waiting for the youkai to continue.

"I have a favor to ask of you."

Sesshoumaru's golden orbs lowered in disapproval.

"Since when did you ever order this Sesshoumaru around?"

"Oh no, I'm not ordering you around at all," The youkai assured him. "I'm merely asking you a favor. It's something I cannot do myself, so I've decided to ask an old friend of mine for help."

This youkai was drifting near its last breath. Fortunately, Sesshoumaru had better control over his emotions, so he refrained from showing any irritation.

"You and I are no such thing. I do not have what you call _friends_."

"Okay, how about a comrade?"

"You were never a comrade of mine; you were my chichiue's."

"One that was once scion to the West is now the lord of those lands. I am automatically your comrade for the upcoming battles. Your otousan-sama only wished for this to be."

"This would be expected of chichiue."

"You'll take my favor then?"

"Perhaps I may, perhaps not. It all depends on what it is that you ask of me."

"Sesshoumaru-sama, this isn't the time for games. I really need for you to do this; it proves to be important."

"Does this Sesshoumaru receive anything in return for doing this?"

The youkai chuckled dryly. Its arms slowly started to uncross from around its chest.

"Of course I would reward you, but being it's such an easy task for someone like you, you only receive my gratitude."

Sesshoumaru sneered. If he recalled, this mission was proven to be something important to this youkai. He jumped off the ice he once stood on and walked off. Behind him, the youkai gave a small, chaotic smirk.

Sesshoumaru traversed through the southern part of the forest, where the exits back to Rin and Jaken were.

The same silence from once before lingered in the air.

Sesshoumaru turned, and jumped again. The same blast of energy shot out at him, leaving parts of trees and land now iced.

Something flitted from behind. He turned, only to be slashed on his side. The side of his armor had completely shattered into many pieces. Blood seeped through his white kimono from the fresh wound.

Sesshoumaru brought Toukijin back out, unaware that something flitted from above. Sesshoumaru quickly looked up and brought his sword up. Its blade clashed once again with his. A low growl escaped from his opponent's throat. The friction the sword pushed onto Toukijin was getting much more forceful than from a moment ago. Had Sesshoumaru just been toyed with this whole time?

Just when Sesshoumaru was about to growl back in disgust, the force on Toukijin was getting to be too much. The youkai grinned and pushed his sword forward.

"It seems you're at a disadvantage with only one arm."

"Nani?"

With just a little more force, the Toukijin flew out from his hand. Sesshoumaru mentally cursed at this and turned to only receive a smirk from the youkai, before he was given a roundhouse kick that sent him down with his sword. After the painful crash to the ground, Sesshoumaru stood back up and seemingly disappeared to only reappear by Toukijin.

The figure materialized between Toukijin and himself before he had the chance of getting his sword. It was faster than him, by a whole lot. If this youkai was once with his chichiue, how could he expect it to be weak? Sesshoumaru knew he still had a ways to go before even being able to compare to his chichiue's power. This youkai was definitely as powerful as _him_, the one that was once the Lord of the Western Lands before himself.

Claws came into view, as did the figure that just slashed him at the front of his armor. The armor guarding his chest was cracked and nearly shattered in the process. After carelessly looking down at it, blue eyes were seen in front of him. The youkai's calloused hand pushed Sesshoumaru back against a tree and appeared before him, its sword inches from his neck. The sword pinched some of his skin, causing a thin line of blood to fall.

"You think I depend on my ice abilities alone? Now, Sesshoumaru-sama, I suppose you shall be taking my favor into consideration?"

Sesshoumaru again cursed. Right now, he felt as weak as that cursed hanyou Inuyasha! How was it possible that he had gotten so careless? Was the youkai that much more powerful compared to him? He probably wouldn't get killed, but this didn't mean he wouldn't get beaten to a bloody pulp otherwise.

"Well?"

Sesshoumaru couldn't believe he didn't spot the youkai immediately the few times before. Then again, the youkai's rank in both power and speed compared to his abilities were indeed greater.

"What is it that you want someone like me to do?"

The youkai smirked.

"Find me the woman, the one many call _Kagome_."

- - - - - - - - - - -

**Next Chapter**

It seems everything is going well in the Sengoku Jidai. However, there's something that's been bothering Kagome since she's returned. Not only Kagome, but Inuyasha has also been acting strange. Just what could this all mean?

Visions of Destiny, Chapter 2: **Surmise**.

_Wait, what am I feeling that's so…fluffy?_

- - - - - - - - - - - -

What do you think of the fic so far? Let me know what you think by sending me a review! This is my first attempt of bringing Sesshoumaru as more than a supporting character, so be gentle on this authoress.

- **KC**

- - - - - - - - - - - -


	2. Surmise

To those who have reviewed my fanfiction thus far: arigatou-gozaimasu! You don't know how much all of these reviews truly mean to me! Everyone's words of encouragement keep me energized and inspired to continue. To be honest, I didn't expect to even hit 5 reviews. I guess I'm actually doing something decent, for once.

There was one thing I did notice, however. I will not say who, but I was commented from the beginning that it's confusing with some of the Japanese words. I admit it; I understand how those who agree feel. Although, writing some words in Japanese is my second-nature while writing fanfiction. I was raised by mostly watching it all in Japanese.

I once put the Translation Glossary at the end of a chapter. Maybe it'll be better that I'm now placing it at the beginning.

I hope that helps a little. Don't worry; there will be chapters with fewer translations, since most of it will be covered early. I hope this clears things up. I appreciate the one who first pointed this out!

I hope everyone had a nice 4th of July; mine wasn't the greatest.. I was told my grandmother passed away the day before. My grandmother and I were pretty close. But never fear! I still plan to continue this fanfiction!

-

Special Thanks: **Vyncent **(Beta.) Winner in the previous contest for best Angst/Drama and nominated for best one-shot off of the Sesshoumaru/Kagome website: "A Single Spark." Read Vyncent-san's fanfics!

**Warning For the Readers**: There might be a few spoilers, like a few things that occur later in the anime/manga. Sooner or later, in the future of this fic, there might be one or two things mentioned from the 3rd Inuyasha Movie.

-

Legend:

"Quotes" - Speech.  
**Bold - "Miscellaneous Youkai Speech."**  
_Italic - Thoughts.  
**Bold/Italic - Flashback/Dream.**_

-

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Translations:

**Imouto **– Little sister.  
**Shinidamachuu **– Soul Stealers.  
**Oneesan **– Older sister.  
**Ookami **- Wolf.

-

**Disclaimer**: I do not own the manga or anime of Inuyasha. It belongs to Rumiko Takahashi!

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Visions of Destiny

Chapter 2

**Surmise**

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Quite a few homes around the village were destroyed. Some homes were damaged while some weren't even touched. This seemed tragic to the villagers, but it wasn't. Youkai had come to their location and terrorized their village before; they knew this wouldn't be the last one to come. It was a miracle that nobody had gotten hurt or killed, so all was not lost.

The village gave their greatest faith and hope to their protector, a miko, Kikyou's imouto: Kaede. However, her abilities as a miko were slowly starting to wane. The years were starting to take their toll on the aged miko, and it didn't go unnoticed by the village that she had called home all of her life.

As time passed, this had become a growing concern to the villagers, as they knew that having a miko was a valuable and important need for their community. With the sudden appearance of a most unusual girl, many saw it as fate giving them a solution to their problem. At first she seemed just like any normal girl, until spotting the Shikon no Tama fly out from her body. Could she be the next protector of the village? Was this kami-sama's decision? No one truly knew. All they knew was, aside from her name, Kagome had many of the traits like the previous maiden Kikyou. Were they related by blood? Again, no one really knew the answer to that one either.

Kagome gave proof of her pure, dormant powers when she was assumed trespasser to the village and when the Mistress Centipede returned for the jewel. The fact that she removed the arrow Kikyou used to seal Inuyasha to the Goshinboku alone was phenomenal. Most figured she was worthy enough to be considered a miko.

Many left their predictions of her unknown arrival be a fated pilgrimage: to retrieve the Shikon no Tama back from the hands of evil. Once her adventure would come to a close, would that be the day when Kaede finally stepped down from her position and allowed Kagome to fill in her spot?

Later that afternoon, Kagome and Sango were strolling down the village, passing by villagers who were beginning to rebuild their homes.

"Are you sure you're okay, Sango? The youkai didn't harm you, did it?"

The taijiya chuckled. She appreciated the concern her friend gave her.

"I'm fine. I didn't have any contact with the youkai like Inuyasha did."

"That's good, because that youkai was sure a challenge."

"I still can't believe you got Shippou to transform."

Kagome chuckled.

"I know, but wasn't his ribbon a nice touch?"

They both chuckled at the thought of a serpent with a ribbon on the top of its head, as if it were female. Their laughter soon died and silence took over. Sango turned to Kagome with a new subject in mind.

"How has your family been?"

"They're the same, as usual. Mama still understands my coming here, Souta is as irritating as ever, and ojiisan still manages to try and use his ofudas on Inuyasha."

Sango giggled.

"Your family sounds nice."

She turned back forward. There was something she always wanted to ask the miko, but she wasn't sure if it was a personal matter or not, so she decided to try her luck.

"If you don't mind me asking, don't you have an otousan?"

Footfalls that were placed on the ground by each step at a time came to an immediate halt.

Did she even have an otousan? She must have, how else could she have existed? She recalled asking her okaasan the same thing when she was little. It seemed like a deep subject, because she was never able to say much about him.

Noticing Kagome stare off into a deep and unknown abyss, Sango spoke up.

"Gomen, I shouldn't have brought it-"

"It's okay. I'm glad you brought it up."

"What do you mean?"

Kagome gave Sango a weak smile.

"Mama was never able to say much about him. To be honest, I don't remember ever seeing my otousan. It's something I've always wanted to figure out as a child."

Sango turned away from the miko's glance, feeling guilt and sadness wash through her.

_Her otousan must've abandoned her okaasan when he found out she was pregnant with Kagome. How horrible..._

In a way, Sango knew how Kagome felt.

She had an okaasan, otousan, and a wonderful life with them right beside her. Until the moment Kohaku was born, Sango lost her okaasan. With only her otousan and herself to help care for the child, Sango felt she had a right to blame her otouto for the cause of her okaasan's death.

One day, her otousan had a meeting to attend to with the other fellow taijiya of the village, leaving the infant's care to her. Sango did not want anything to do with her otouto and wanted to leave him behind.

She didn't know why or how it happened, but Kohaku began giggling at her. Irritated by the child's non-stop chortles, Sango turned back to hush the child with a threatening glare. However, her glare never came to be, for Sango saw something she never expected.

Her okaasan's smile. Her smile was on her otouto's face.

Sango's heart faltered at the sight of the smile, swearing she saw her okaasan by his side, giving her a pleading look. It was as if her okaasan was there, asking for Sango to care for Kohaku.

Since that day she felt the spirit of her okaasan within her heart, Sango's feelings for Kohaku changed. She willingly cared for him while her otousan was out and even asked if she could play with Kohaku at times. Thus a bond between two siblings came to be a cherished one.

_You have such a warm smile. It's as if nothing bad has ever happened to you. I see through that smile. You have your own problems to bear with, yet you put our concerns before your own... why?_ Sango thought.

While she was trying to figure out the mystery behind Kagome's kindness, Sango spotted the necklace around her neck and gasped.

"It's so beautiful! Where did you get it?"

Kagome looked down at the pale gem that shimmered in the afternoon sunlight.

"Oh, this? It was from Mama this morning as a present."

"Today is your birthday?"

Kagome nodded.

Sango felt a pang of guilt build up in her stomach. If only she asked when the day of her birth was. Some best friend she turned out to be.

Kagome noticed the guilt written on Sango's face and waved a hand out at her.

"Don't worry about it. There's nothing you haven't given me yet that I need."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive."

They decided to take the route into the markets of the village, looking at all of the clothes and trinkets that were being sold on the way back to the hut. There were beautiful kimonos and many charms on their way back that were being pushed at them.

They finally made it to the edge of the crowded markets. Kagome looked over and watched a small group of children run around with dolls in their hands. The smile that was once on her face for the children started to fade.

"Sango?"

They passed by more villagers, who greeted them. Sango waved at them and noticed Kagome looking downward to the ground.

"What is it?"

"I had this strange dream while I was back home."

Sango turned back to her with a questionable look on her face.

"Was it a sort of premonition?"

"I-I don't know..."

With Kaede's hut only a short distance away from them, Sango stopped alongside Kagome.

"Maybe you can tell me what your dream was about?"

Kagome dragged her shoe in the dry soil, drawing marks into it.

"I want to, but it's too complex for me to explain. I remember my dream, every single detail, but I'm unable to say anything about it without stopping myself."

Sango gave the miko a frown. Whenever there was something Kagome could not explain, it was either because she didn't want to mention it or have anyone go through the trouble of knowing about it.

Sango started feeling selfish desires and bowed her head down in shame. She didn't want to admit it, but she really wanted to know what Kagome's dream was about. It was a part of Sango's personality. She would be happily conversing with someone she knew and the next thing; she would feel tempted and listen to herself coaxing her common sense to pry that very person's business out from hiding. Was she the only one that had this feeling? How? No one would be considered human if they didn't have a drop of such emotion in their body.

Most of Sango's started from her jealousy towards Miroku. Females from any village would flock, coo, or squeal once he announced to every beautiful woman in that village he wanted her to bear his child. Even when he confessed to Sango that she was someone important to him, he would turn to see another beautiful woman, saunter up and grasp her hands, asking the same exact question as he did to the other women. This bothered Sango to no end. She wasn't sure if the houshi was worth the wait.

Sango's temper began to cool by thinking of things that didn't include a certain houshi in them. The hentai would have to wait; Kagome was her high priority right now. She realized that she would probably regret her decision, but it couldn't be helped: her temptations got the best of her.

"Are you sure? Why don't you try explaining the things in your dream that you do understand."

Kagome was suddenly feeling uncomfortable. Was Sango trying to force her to answer? That couldn't be it, she would tell herself. Even if she was prying, it was only because she was concerned, as her best friend; right?

"Well..."

"Is it Inuyasha? You don't have to worry, I won't tell him anything."

"Iie, it isn't about Inuyasha."

"Then, is it about your family? Or is this about your otou-"

Kagome's hands went up and stopped Sango by pushing her a few inches away. She gasped in breath, looking up at the shocked taijiya. She understood if Sango asked if it was about Inuyasha, but mentioning the otousan she never knew or came to meet was going a little far. She had to admit; maybe Sango was going a bit too far into prying her. She sighed, her hands falling to her sides.

"I don't know how to explain my dream and I just don't feel like talking about it right now. Please stop asking or forcing me to answer."

Kagome turned from Sango and walked off to Kaede's hut without her. Sango watched Kagome disappear through the straw curtain before she turned away.

_I'm such a baka to allow myself to get carried away. Forgive me, Kagome._

With that, Sango walked back into the markets. She gave the hut one last glance before she disappeared into the crowds. She needed time to think over her careless choice.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

_**"Find me the woman, the one many call Kagome."**_

_**Sesshoumaru's eyes began blinking tediously at the youkai.**_

_**"Just what business do you have with that human?"**_

_**Cold, dark depths of blue from the darkness started to shut.**_

_**"That is none of your concern at this moment, Sesshoumaru-sama."**_

_**"It will be my concern if I'm given no choice but to do this."**_

_**The youkai gave Sesshoumaru a smug smirk.**_

_**"Forgive me, Sesshoumaru-sama. I promise to give you an exceptional reward the next time I ask of a greater request."**_

_**"I assure you, there won't be a next time."**_

_**Sesshoumaru turned away, preparing his leave. The youkai's hand rose from his side, its claws giving off a reflecting glow from the sun's rays.**_

_**"If you dare lay a single claw on her or abuse her, you shall regret it."**_

_**Silence.**_

_**"Bring her to my location and we shall continue our discussion from there."**_

"Where are we heading, Sesshoumaru-sama?"

Sesshoumaru's attention was kept directly in front of him. He paid no attention to whoever just questioned him.

After leaving behind his unexpected guest, the group of four had to travel through another section of dense wood, before they could finally consider making it out from any trace of forestry. They all now were traveling out on the grassy plains.

Sesshoumaru was left in a plight of confusion by the youkai's sudden demand. For once in his life, Sesshoumaru was puzzled.

_Just what do you want with a human? Do her powers as a miko intrigue you that much?_

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Inuyasha walked back from the forest and through the village, passing those who continued rebuilding their homes in deep thought.

_How the hell am I supposed to tell Kagome, if she's too distracted by one of her own problems?_

Inuyasha noticed Kagome walk in. She didn't look to be her usual cheerful self. He knew something was wrong, because Shippou jumped into her arms and Miroku gave her, his usual "welcome back" smile.

Kagome didn't respond to either one of them. All she did was silently unpack her things. Sure, she would talk to them every now and then and laugh, but her voice was less bright than usual. This happened countless times in the past, enough that Inuyasha knew something was bothering her; at least a little. Kagome was good at disguising anything that happened to her, causing her friends not to notice most of the time.

Inuyasha was not so easily led.

The day Kagome left back to her time, Inuyasha had business of his own to take care of.

Near the village, Inuyasha picked up the scent of dried-up clay. He assumed correctly, while on his way through the forest and to the scent, Inuyasha spotted Shinidamachuu fly off in small groups, holding the familiar glowing orbs of souls. He stopped, finding himself a few feet away from his previous lover: Kikyou.

Now, one would figure Inuyasha was off to see Kikyou and have his usual private time with her.

One that would assume this would be wrong.

Since three years ago, Inuyasha gradually began to change. Of course, his arrogance remained, but one thing about him finally changed.

His feelings for Kikyou.

The day Kagome left for home, Inuyasha finally came to realization about Kikyou. She would never be the same as over fifty-years ago. He had to face the fact that Naraku ruined their relationship for the Shikon no Tama. Kikyou was only revived with a revenging spirit into her false body. Her spirit wasn't even hers; it was a part of Kagome's.

Before Inuyasha could speak, Kikyou knew his reason for suddenly coming to see her. She knew Inuyasha finally moved on and his feelings changed to her counterpart. Kikyou took the words from his mouth and spoke for him. After the awkward conversation, she abruptly ended it and left Inuyasha behind sitting underneath the tree. She didn't remember much of loving Inuyasha and realized she didn't have any other feeling besides revenge in her body.

In other words, Kikyou took Inuyasha's decision better than he expected.

Since that night Kikyou and himself talked, Inuyasha kept watch over Kagome. He would follow her to school at day and watch her sleep at night. He couldn't help but stretch his hand out to comb through her strands of ebony hair, on the nights that he watched over her. He couldn't avoid her, he didn't want to. He was in love with her.

Inuyasha sighed deeply. He was about to step into the hut, but stopped to see Kagome walk out before him. He remained still, silently looking down at her.

_What a beautiful sunset. I could never see the sunset this beautiful at home like I could here..._

Kagome turned from looking at the colorful skies and noticed Inuyasha looking down at her.

"I-Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha quickly avoided her glance and looked off at the horizon.

"Are you okay?"

Kagome looked at the hanyou in confusion.

"You didn't seem to be yourself earlier."

Inuyasha added at the last minute. Kagome blinked at him a few times, before her face went pink in embarrassment.

"I-I'm okay. I just had a little problem earlier that's all."

Inuyasha looked back out at the sunset that mixed with the purple and pink wispy clouds.

"I've been thinking about something; ever since you last left."

Kagome turned from looking at the sunset to looking up at him. Just what was he planning to say this time?

Inuyasha turned to face her. His hands went out and tightly gripped her shoulders, looking down into her caramel depths.

"Kagome, I-"

"Kagome-chan!"

Inuyasha gave himself his own fall to the wooden floors. Kagome turned from him as if she didn't notice his fall to see Sango. The taijiya slowly approached her.

"You look tired. How about we head to the hot springs and have a nice bath?"

Kagome sighed in happiness, causing Sango to chuckle.

"I take that as a yes?"

"Definitely."

Kagome walked back inside the hut and came back out with two towels she brought from her time along with her bath products.

"Well, let's go-"

"My beloved Sango, what are you and Kagome-sama up to at this beautiful time in the early evening?"

Miroku gave both a charming smile. Kagome and Sango exchanged glances to one another. Sango gave the houshi one last glance before she looked back at Kagome, rolling her eyes. Kagome chuckled.

"Go easy on him, Sango-chan."

Sango decided to walk over towards the houshi, flashing him one of her smaller and cuter of smiles.

"Houshi-sama..." She replied, her voice dripping soft and sweet like honey. Miroku tilted his head down at her.

"What is it, Sango?"

From looking kind and angelic, Sango's expression changed into that of a dark and horrific one. Her hands went up and grabbed Miroku's violet robe.

"Follow us and you die."

Miroku began sweating nervously at Sango's evil glare.

"S-Sango, what do you ever mean? All I asked was what the both of you were up to at this time."

"Don't play coy, houshi-sama. I can see through your trickery."

After saying that and making sure he was fully aware of the situation, Sango dropped him from the tight grasp she had on his robe. Miroku started losing balance and coincidentally fell over next to Inuyasha. Sango turned away from him and walked back over to Kagome, passing by her.

"Let's go."

Kagome hesitantly followed after her.

"I thought you were going to go easy on him."

"I was."

Kagome sighed and shook her head. When would they ever learn about their true feelings for each other? Even if they were a little older than her, she could've guessed that they were acting like nothing more than children.

_Miroku-sama's only teasing you, Sango. Can't you see he only loves you?_

Miroku watched both women disappear into the forest and out from the village grounds in befuddlement.

"What did I do this time?"

After giving his own "osuwari" command, Inuyasha finally managed to get up from the painful fall on the wooden surface. Miroku turned over to him.

"Kagome-sama didn't osuwari you, did she?"

Inuyasha ignored his companion and stood back on his feet. He decided to take more time to think about his new discovery and walked back into the village, leaving Miroku behind in silence.

_Damnit, I almost forgot that everyone else will also be a problem for me. With my luck, I'll always get interrupted if I try telling Kagome here. How am I supposed to tell her now?_

Inuyasha turned to look up at the orange ball in the setting sky before he finally made up his mind. He would have to wait for her to return and tell her as soon as he spotted her, hoping Sango wouldn't get in his way. He would tell her, even if he had to wait an enormous amount of time for them to finish their normal bathing routine.

- - - - - - - - - - -

_**Flames crackled and burnt many things around the whole location. The scent of smoke and burnt flesh remained in the air, with the odor of other living things that slowly began to fall in death.**_

_**She walked outside of the dark castle and stopped to stand next to Kagura and Kanna, who watched all the fights before them. She turned and looked out at the smoke-filled skies with no emotion on her face. She was like a soulless body.**_

_**Out of all the battles that went on around them, only one caused her to look over and catch her interest.**_

_**Toukijin clashed against Tessaiga, sending sparks in the sky. Inuyasha brought Tessaiga back, blocking Sesshoumaru's next blow and pushed him back, clashing against Toukijin once more.**_

_**Her dull, lifeless eyes slowly began to flicker in color.**_

_**"S-sesshoumaru, Inuyasha..."**_

_**She stepped by both Naraku's detachments and walked out a few steps away from the castle, having a closer look at the two that battled before her.**_

_**Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru jumped away from each other. Inuyasha ran back over, swinging the Tessaiga back at Sesshoumaru, while he brought the Toukijin back in front of him to block, moved a bit by Tessaiga's force. He gave Inuyasha a low growl and with more force and power, flung Inuyasha and Tessaiga back many feet away from him.**_

_**Her eyes began to glaze over, finally regaining their true color at long last. What was going on? Why were they fighting? She flung her head out; the tears that once streamed down her face flew out in the warm, smoky skies.**_

_**"SESSHOUMARU!"**_

_**Sesshoumaru stopped and turned to see the one who screamed out his name. He looked over at her, his eyes decreasing in awe.**_

_**"K-kagome?"**_

_**Inuyasha soon recovered from his fall and dashed out at him with amazing stealth and speed. His eyes slitted in anguish and anger, the blade of Tessaiga engulfing itself in massive whirls of wind.**_

_**"You've gotten slow, Sesshoumaru!"**_

_**Sesshoumaru quickly turned away from her and back to Inuyasha. Everything flashed before his eyes. Kagome ran out to both of them, her hand stretched to them, screaming out.**_

_**"STOP!"**_

_**Inuyasha's eyes widened.**_

_**Blood gracefully flew in the air and fell, splattering on the tainted earth around the castle.**_

She wasn't sure how to take the dream. It had to have been nonsense, but why did it all seem so real?

Why was she dreaming about both siblings battling? Why was she watching them with Kagura and Kanna? Why was she even calling out to Sesshoumaru instead of Inuyasha? All of this seemed too strange altogether for her to comprehend.

Was it a nightmare, or was it a sort of warning for her in the future?

"Kagome-chan?"

Kagome sank deeper into the warm water. She set her head down on her crossed arms, which were placed on her knees that she pulled close to her body. Sango looked over at her with concern. She was spacing out on her, again.

"Kagome-chan?"

Kagome broke out from her trance and looked over at Sango.

"Gomen, I was just thinking."

Sango's body also sank into the water, stopping at the top of her shoulders.

"It's the dream you mentioned to me earlier, isn't it?"

Sango could tell she was on the right track, because she noticed Kagome avoided looking at her afterwards.

"I felt a little hurt that you didn't tell me about your dream. I lured myself into thinking I should've forced you. After you left me behind, I started thinking how selfish and rude I was being to you earlier. Even if Kohaku was a sibling or not in my life, I've never felt close with someone as I have with you. If Kohaku were to finally die in peace, I know you would be there to ease my pain."

"Sango..."

"I was to blame for everything that happened between us today. I didn't even think about how personal or confusing the dream could be to you right now."

Kagome looked down at her reflection in the steamy waters and turned from the water to face back at Sango.

"Sango-chan, I-"

Sango's hand moved from under the water to stop her. Her body rose up from in the water and went to take the extra towel Kagome brought and wrapped around her body.

"No matter what circumstance you're in, if you need someone else to talk to, you can come to me. Don't approach me as a friend, but as my imouto."

Sango stepped out from the hot spring and started drying her body. Guilt began to sink into Kagome's body. Sango always had a way with her words, no matter what she did. She was just like an oneesan she always imagined of.

Sango slipped into the clothes she wore besides her taijiya uniform, and Kagome started to rise from the hot spring, but stopped as she had nothing covering her body but the dripping water.

"Sango-chan, you don't have to apologize."

Sango turned back to her, drying her hair.

"If the dream bothers you and it's still hard to explain, give yourself time to recollect it all first. When you do, I'm sure Kaede would know what to do in your situation. If she doesn't and you're still confused as ever, then it's all up to you to answer for yourself."

Kagome looked at her, not knowing what else to say to her. Sango smiled.

"I'll catch you back at the village?"

Kagome looked at Sango for a few moments before she nodded.

Holding the wet towel over her shoulder, Sango walked back to the village, waving her hand out at Kagome until she was no longer seen in the early twilight.

Kagome looked out in the direction Sango left and smiled. She always sounded cool and wise with her words. If only she was like that.

_Arigatou, Sango-chan. I promise to tell you, once I understand._

Kagome stepped out from the springs, bringing the towel that was placed next to her on the ground around her body. Once she dried every piece of her skin, she put on a long-sleeved blue shirt and blue jeans that were low-cut. Before she got the back of her shirt wet, Kagome then started drying her hair. Once she finished brushing every strand of hair, she picked up her towel and bathing supplies and started back to the village. Just as she entered the village, Kagome noticed someone familiar standing a ways from where she stood and looked over at her.

_Inuyasha?_

She decided to walk over and find out. Sure enough, the silver-haired hanyou stood before her, watching her approach with calm eyes.

"Inuyasha, what are you doing out here, and standing out in public nonetheless?"

He turned and snapped at her, causing her to sweatdrop.

"You got a problem with me being out here?"

"I was just curious, that's all."

Inuyasha turned away from her, clenching both of his fists.

_Damnit, this wasn't how it was supposed to start._

"That's not what I meant to say..."

Inuyasha mumbled, his bangs hiding half of his face. Kagome turned and faced him, unable to hear what Inuyasha was mumbling on about.

"Nani?"

Inuyasha felt his face change red and turned away, hoping she didn't see his blush.

"I-I wanted to talk to you."

Inuyasha wanted to talk to her, as in only her? Just what was going on? She noticed that Inuyasha was acting a little different towards her earlier. Sure, he still had his stubborn comments. She wasn't sure how, but she could just tell from looking at him.

"Okay."

He turned, walking away from the village and returned back into the forest. Kagome noticed this and followed after him.

"Where are you going?"

"You didn't think I was planning on talking to you in front of all those people, did you?"

Kagome chuckled softly at the comment.

"I guess not."

For a while, they both remained silent for most of the part. Kagome wanted to know where Inuyasha was planning on taking her but figured he wouldn't tell her, not until they were where he wanted to go.

Inuyasha stopped underneath the Goshinboku and turned to see Kagome follow him underneath the old tree.

"What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

All of a sudden, Inuyasha was left at a loss of words. Why couldn't he tell her his feelings right now? He already knew he was in love with Kagome. Her long locks, dark as the night, her chocolate-caramel eyes that always glowed, and her sweet and powerful scent he grew intoxicated on. He loved just about everything about her.

Before he went to see Kikyou, the decision was a hard one to make, but he knew he could only choose one. It was either Kikyou, who was now dead and only lived as a lifeless corpse, or Kagome, the one who traveled along by his side and didn't care if he remained a hanyou.

Then there were the obstacles he had to go through in order to get to her. There was the wimpy ookami that always poured his heart out every time he had a chance to see her, and the Hojou guy from her time period. Kouga wished for Kagome to be his mate for her ability of sensing the jewels shards, but Inuyasha feared that he was starting to actually fall in love with her. He barely knew who this Hojou guy was, but he knew he had feelings for Kagome as well.

He had to tell her, before it was too late.

"Let's just say we successfully kill Naraku and take what he has of the Shikon no Tama. What would you do when the Shikon no Tama is finally complete? Would it bother you if I still wanted to become a youkai?"

Kagome looked over at him. Why was he asking her this? Just where was he going with this conversation? She turned away from him.

"I don't know what I would do. Maybe I could go back home and get back to school and my make-up work. I still would visit all of you when I can."

Inuyasha knew she wasn't done answering him just yet. Interested in hearing what she had to say, he leaned against the thick trunk of the tree and continued to listen to her.

"I don't understand. Why do you still want to be a youkai? Haven't you realized by now what you've done when you've lost control of your youkai blood? Is that what you truly want, to go on a rampage of blood and death? What you want is your choice, but if it was me, I would stay the way I was. Why be something you know you'll never become?"

Inuyasha hated it when Kagome made her point. She was always right for just about anything he pushed out at her. He was told what he did while he lost control of his blood's heritage. He was afraid to let Tessaiga out of his sight since then. What if he killed his friends? What if he killed Kagome?

_I knew she would say that..._

Inuyasha smiled to himself. His hands went out and touched her shoulders again, taking Kagome by surprise.

"I've been having second thoughts of my own."

"What kind of second thoughts?"

His hand slowly placed itself on her cheek, causing her to flush.

"I don't know why it took me so long to realize how important you are to me right now."

Kagome was left in a shocked amazement. He just told her that she was important. Was she really that important to him? Her eyes slowly began to shimmer.

"Inuyasha..."

"Kagome, I..."

This was it, the time Inuyasha had been waiting for the entire day. He planned on making up for all of his mistakes he made in the past to this very moment.

Inuyasha's hands remained on her shoulders, hopefully for the last time that day, his eyes gently piercing into hers. His lip began to tremble as his eyes slowly started to shut, tilting his head down towards her.

Kagome was caught mesmerized in his attractive, golden orbs.

_I-is he doing what I think he's doing?_

Her face went from normal to another deep shade of red. Her eyes glazed still more before shutting her own eyes.

From the past, Kagome had gotten to know more about Inuyasha. The closer she felt with him on their journeys, the more she realized of her true feelings. When Kagome first met Inuyasha, during that first year she began to realize her attraction to him. From then until now, her feelings for him only continued to ascend. Not until now did Kagome realize only one thing still stood in the way, tugging at her fragile heart.

Kikyou.

Kagome stopped herself from moving any closer.

She was a part of that woman who once lived in this era. All of those who lived in the village pointed out at least once that she looked like Kikyou. The hair, eyes, and just about everything else about her.

Kagome could careless of what people thought who she resembled or not, but Kikyou was the original for at least one thing.

She was Inuyasha's first true love.

_Could it be that my feelings for Inuyasha only exist, because Kikyou and I..._

Her eyes opened. Inuyasha's eyes remained shut. His lips were only a simple breath away from hers. Her hand went out to stop him by touching his chest.

_And Inuyasha only loves me, because I look like Kikyou..._

Not feeling smooth, feathery lips against his, Inuyasha eyes began to open, looking down at his current situation.

"What gives, Kagome?"

"G-gomen, I just realized I left something behind at the hotspring. I need to go back and get it before I forget."

Kagome inched away from his close embrace and turned to walk off. His hand went out and grabbed her wrist, causing her to gasp lightly.

"Let me go with you."

"I'll be fine."

"But Kagome..."

Kagome gave Inuyasha the best smile she could give, without revealing that it was a fake.

"You worry too much, Inuyasha. It's only my shampoo. The walk isn't far away at all."

Her hand slowly removed itself from Inuyasha's grip, slipping back to her side.

"Go on ahead. I'll be right behind you."

"Kagome..."

Before Inuyasha could do anything else, Kagome disappeared from him and into the dark forest.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

_Who am I kidding, how hard is it to forget something of mine from the future at a hot spring in this era?_

Kagome had no choice but to lie to Inuyasha in order to escape from him. She didn't plan on Inuyasha following her and have him find out that she had no reason to go back. He would be furious, or at least go through what she liked to call an "arrogant rampage." The only reason she wanted to go and "get her shampoo" was so she had time to herself to think.

By the time she found herself near the hot springs, the end of twilight came. Little by little, the stars began to make themselves known. A cool breeze picked up, causing the tree limbs from around her to slowly wave. The clouds in the sky picked up and swallowed up the full moon. Everything from all around her started to darken a bit without her noticing.

A few strands of hair fell in the front of her face. Her hand went out, tucking the strands back away from her eyes.

What if she was wrong? Maybe she was assuming too much. Perhaps Inuyasha actually meant what he said just for her, not because she resembled Kikyou.

_I just have to face it. I'm probably not meant to be with Inuyasha anyway. Kikyou is still around and he'd go after her at the sight of even a single Shinidamachuu._

A tear escaped from the rim of her left eye. Her hand went up, unconsciously covering her mouth while the tear fell to the ground with another.

_If I understand, then why does it still have to hurt?_

She let all the tears she built up from inside leak down her face. Once she cried all she could and couldn't cry any longer, she allowed herself the time to recollect.

Her face dry from all of her shedded tears, her eyes still a little puffy, Kagome felt a little more relieved. Her mother's opinion on crying all of your problems away worked for her. She was still sad, but also felt as though a great load was no longer on her shoulders at the same time.

_Inuyasha should use the Shikon no Tama to bring Kikyou back to life. I'm sure Kikyou wouldn't be any happier to be with Inuyasha, rather than me._

Kagome rubbed her eyes once more before she weakly smiled.

"Well, I best be on my way."

She started back to the village. Soon, she would be sleeping in her sleeping bag along with warm food sheltered in her stomach. It actually sounded nice. It wasn't home, but she didn't always have it bad here.

OOMFH!

Kagome nearly fell over, but was surprised to feel something catch her. Odd, she didn't see anything in front of her a moment ago. She wasn't sure what she should've done right then. She decided to go by her first instinct and touch.

The moon remained covered. All she could see was a tall silhouette before her.

The figure was definitely human, or looked to be at least. Without the moon's guidance, she spotted long hair flow in the calm winds. Was it Inuyasha? Had he come for her? She didn't see his ears, but it was dark.

The next thing she was able to notice from time to time was that it mostly wore white. Inuyasha was never caught wearing white. She leaned closer to the figure and started blinking questionably. Her head was laying on something warm and...

_Wait, what am I feeling that's so…fluffy?_

She didn't recall Inuyasha having or wearing anything fluffy in her whole life.

A soft sigh escaped from her lips. Her eyes shut, not noticing that she pulled herself closer to the "fluff".

The wind started to pick up and the clouds began to move and crowd with others. The round, white orb barely peaked through the blanket of clouds. Underneath her eyelids, Kagome noticed her surroundings become briefly basked in moonlight. She opened her eyes and looked forward.

She saw black armor that was cracked, and a hand with long, clean claws that had two stripes of magenta on the wrist.

This sounded all too familiar.

Her hand gripped onto the warm fluff like a security blanket and looked up.

"Do you mind removing yourself from my tail?"

She paled.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

**Next Chapter**

Kagome has bumped into the youkai lord Sesshoumaru. With Kagome running away from the lord, will Inuyasha arrive in time to save her before it's too late?

Visions of Destiny, Chapter 3: **Escort**.

_I hope the others find me soon…_

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The next chapter will arrive as soon as I finish editing the rough draft and my beta has gone through it!  
I have a goal of reviews I hope to hit. I'd truly be grateful if you, as the readers were to help me achieve my goal!

- **KC**

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	3. Escort

Gomen-nasai, minna-san! I've finally posted this chapter at long last. I apologize for the delay; I have been procrastinating a little. The rough draft of this chapter has been completed for quite sometime, but it was a mess. I would get nearly half of the rough draft fixed, but then I would grow tired of it and walk off to watch some TV, until I had more inspiration again. Then, there's school. I started back in mid August; my final year of high school! My homework has doubled from my junior year already. It depends when I update. Some will come in immediately, while some may take longer to finish. I ask for you to be patient, if you enjoy this fiction so far.

I must say, I'm pretty shocked with the amount of reviews I've received. I appreciate all your words so far, arigatou! Keep them coming if you please!

As you also notice, I made another change for a request from someone. Instead of dealing with the numbers beside the Japanese word, I have just left the translated meanings at the top. I'm assuming you'll know it that way. I also changed this for the previous chapters.

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Special Thanks: **Fire Phoenix**  
I appreciate your opinions and suggestions for this chapter. You've always been a fan of this fiction, even when only three chapters have been posted. I know I will absolutely love your fanart(s) for this fanfiction as well!

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Legend:

"Quotes" - Speech.  
**Bold - "Miscellaneous Youkai Speech."**  
_Italic - Thoughts.  
**Bold/Italic - Flashback/Dream.**_  
(Parenthesis) – Imagination.

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Translations:

**Bakuryuuha **– Exploding Dragon Wave / Backlash Wave.

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**Disclaimer**: I do not own the manga or anime of Inuyasha. It belongs to Rumiko Takahashi!

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Visions of Destiny

Chapter 3

**Escort**

- - - - - - - - - - - -

_Sesshoumaru..._

Kagome felt her stomach churn in a sick, apprehensive way, causing her skin to pale more in greater fear. There was no doubt about it; she was grasping the tail of the taiyoukai himself.

She managed to gently cry out in shock and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping once they would open again, he would disappear from all existence. Her eyes slowly began to open, wishing what she had seen was nothing but a figment of her imagination.

Unfortunately for her, he was still there.

Kagome noticed the inu-youkai's eyes glower in annoyance. She looked down to see her hand continuing to clutch onto what he considered his tail and quickly removed it before she angered him further.

This had to have been some sort of dream with anyone she met do the silliest thing she would least expect. The only problem with this theory was she didn't see Sesshoumaru prancing about or laughing moronically. He just stood in front of her in silence, only standing a few feet away from her.

A smile began to crease across her face. She nearly gushed in laughter by thinking about the ongoing possibilities that went on in her head. She was never around to know for certain, or anyone she knew aside from Rin and his number one servant Jaken. It had to have happened to him before. It just didn't seem possible to her that one could be so perfect in every aspect.

(Sesshoumaru was casually walking down a grassy knoll with Jaken trailing behind. The skies were gloomy and grey, matching his expression. Conveniently, a rock stood a couple steps away and Sesshoumaru hadn't seen it. Taking another step forward, his boot slipped on the rock and he fell over on his face. Jaken squawked in surprise and waddled over to him in hurry.)

("Sesshoumaru-sama! Are you alright?")

(Both of Sesshoumaru's hands were brought up with only his middle and ring finger bent on each side, twitching profusely.)

She couldn't hold it any longer and started giggling. Her giggles soon heightened to laughter at the mental image she played over more than once. She continued to laugh as she looked up from the ground to see Sesshoumaru give her an emotionless, yet disgusted glance at what she was doing. Her chortles soon weakened and her mouth snapped shut. She quickly forced herself to show interest at the ground below her feet, doing her best as to hide her embarrassment.

All was silent in the forest again.

A dream was something that could never hurt you. Dreams were usually strange, but funny in many ways; yet none of the following seemed to be the case. Perhaps she hadn't woken up from her nightmare. That had to be it; but why was she taking so long to wake up?

Sesshoumaru, however, wasn't aware of all of the creativity thoughts Kagome had in mind about him.

_What does she find so amusing?_

Did she not know who she was facing? Was this a sign that she had gone crazy, or did she want to die by his hand that much? Oh, how little did our taiyoukai know.

_What am I doing? Sesshoumaru, who has tried killing me numerous of times in the past is standing right in front of me! All I do is hallucinate something that would never happen! A dream or a nightmare, who am I trying to fool? This is the real deal, Kagome..._

Sesshoumaru continued to cast his glance at the anxious miko. He noticed whenever he looked into her direction and caught her eyes looking away from the ground; she always attempted to avoid his gaze. Was she afraid? It didn't matter, just about anyone was afraid of him all the same.

Unaware that Sesshoumaru's eyes remained looking at her every action and movement, Kagome couldn't help from the boredom of staring at the ground for long and looked away once more to suddenly realize the mistake she had made. Her eyes were trapped in the pools of gold in front of her.

The fly had carelessly approached the spider's web and found its feet stuck in its silk strands. She couldn't move a single inch of her body. Was this how it felt like when you were cornered by one of the most dangerous predators and you were the poor, defenseless prey that was about to be attacked? Was she really that intimidated of him?

She remembered the day she first met Inuyasha and realized the fear she felt from him couldn't compare to what raced through her mind right now. In comparison, the only fear she felt from Inuyasha when they first met was like a child's fear of receiving his/or her first cut. Sesshoumaru on the other hand, she felt as if she wouldn't live another second while in his presence. She might as well spare him the trouble by lying on the ground and preparing herself for an old-fashioned butchering in her own pool of blood.

There were many things Kagome still wanted to try that were new and different, but she wasn't planning to mark her gravestone: "Killed by Sesshoumaru" anytime soon. She needed to run as far as possible from him, if she intended to live to see another day.

As soon as his eyes shut to blink, Kagome's anxiety shattered from being trapped within his trance. She was no longer in a state of fear. She forced the remaining parts of her body that remained in place, to move and turned to run as fast as she could from him.

She was finally free from the golden hypnotism and ran off into the forest, not bothering to turn and see if she was being followed.

_Why am I even running? How do I expect myself to outrun a youkai?_

She couldn't help but crane her head back to check. Maybe he didn't want to go through the trouble of following her? It must have been a coincidence that she bumped into him. He couldn't have possibly been there at the same time and place for her.

She spotted a blur of white zip from behind and move to one side of her with grace. Her eyes couldn't pick up every movement, but with the new-found experience she gained through her journeys with the others, she managed to spot the bolt of white now and then before it moved in a quicker pace. This caused her to turn back and continue to panic.

_He is after me!_

Without thinking, Kagome let out her most loud and devastating scream throughout the entire forest, causing some of its inhabitants to bolt up in place or fly off into the sky. Kagome knew what she was doing was a futile attempt, but she never cared enough to stop. Keeping yourself alive as long as possible from an all-powerful youkai seemed more important.

She started panting as she continued on into the night. All of this running in the forest with no trace of light was taking its toll on her. Noting her fatigue without realizing it caused Kagome to trip. Her foot was caught underneath a tree's root, which in the end resulted to her falling over on her face. It was ironic that her pose matched the one she imagined Sesshoumaru in earlier.

It wasn't the softest landings, she inferred silently while pulling her body from the ground. Dirt was scattered all over her clothes, parts of her face was smudged, and her hair was disheveled in all sorts of places.

She removed her foot under the base of the tree that poked above the earth. Back on her feet and completely dusted off, Kagome turned back to continue on with her escape.

She froze in place. The oxygen that she barely exhaled stopped at the peak of her throat.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Inuyasha at this time was returning back to the village with a saddened look on his face. His ears drooped more at the thought of Kagome.

_How could she brush me off like that? Did she not know what I was trying to say?_

On the way back to Kaede's hut, with every step, an odd sensation began to muse inside of him. He had no idea why he had such an uneasy feeling, but promised he would be sure to figure out its cause. If not now, eventually. He growled aloud in irritation, swiping the matter aside with the hut's door and stepped inside. He would have to worry about his gut's warning later, an error he was soon to find out he made.

Sango was at one side of the hut, fixing dinner, anger spread across her face. To the other side of her and on the floor laid Miroku with a fresh bump on his head. Shippou was kneeling beside him, waving one of his leaves over his face while Kirara was looking down at him in concern. Ignoring the whole situation around her, the taijiya turned from the cooking pot and noticed Inuyasha standing before her. Inuyasha shook his head at the sight. He wasn't the least bit surprised at what he had seen.

"Inuyasha, have you seen Kagome by chance? Wasn't she last with you?"

"She forgot her shampoo at the hot spring." His voice dripped critically. Sango turned back with an odd expression on her face, as she looked down into the pot's substances.

"That's odd. Kagome gathered everything when she finished bathing. She couldn't have forgotten anything."

Inuyasha looked at the back of Sango's head, giving her a look of slight disorientation.

"What did you-?"

Inuyasha stopped to feel his ears twitch. His expression changed into that of fear before one could say "ramen." His ears had picked up a scream from in the forest. Not only that, but he also recognized the shrillness of the voice piercing into his ears.

_Shit!_

He ran out of the hut in a flash. Sango instantly noticed there was something going on and ran after Inuyasha. Shippou looked from Miroku to see Sango run by them. Kirara turned back to mew at Shippou before they both nodded and ran after her. The houshi was left behind to watch over the hut and their meal, as Kaede had left to another village nearly a week ago. Many villagers from different locations were having horrible illnesses. She was off assisting with the other miko that arrived to also help.

Sango had a feeling it wasn't smart to leave someone unconscious to watch over something that boiled and promised herself she wouldn't be long and return before anything bad could happen.

"Inuyasha, where are you going?" She yelled, stopping a few inches outside of the hut, causing some of the passersby to turn and look at them. They quickly shook their heads and walked on. It must have been a personal argument between the two. Kirara jumped onto Sango's shoulder while Shippou stopped next to her. Inuyasha's feet skidded to a stop and turned to look back at them.

"I heard Kagome scream. It's a safer bet if none of you follow me!"

"Wait, Inuyasha!" Sango's arm stretched out.

He didn't respond. Inuyasha leapt into the air and disappeared through the forest before she could do anything. She could only stand by and watch the glint of silver slowly disappear before her eyes. She felt something tug. She looked down to see Shippou gently pulling at the lower-part of her green dress that covered the bottom of her kimono layer.

"Kagome is going to be okay, isn't she?"

She smiled.

"Don't worry, Inuyasha will make sure of it." She turned to look out at the dark skies, her hand moving down to pat his chestnut hair.

_The sky has gotten to be darker than usual. I can only pray that this isn't a bad omen._

Before she could say anymore, Sango turned back to the hut to hear the familiar groan of someone that was hit on the head earlier. She sighed and stepped back inside before Miroku could do any wrong. She turned back once more to see that Shippou wasn't following.

"You coming, Shippou?"

"Hai. I'm coming."

The kitsune silently scurried past her, causing Sango to frown. The poor kit, he was still worried. Kagome was like the second okaasan to him. She followed inside to comfort him, letting the straw screen drop to dangle.

Inuyasha passed through timbers and brush, jumping from the fields of grass to the sturdy limbs of the trees. The village he left behind was already the size of a speck at the rate he was going.

_How could I have been so foolish? I shouldn't have left her alone!_

Inuyasha felt his anger rise, but stopped it from rising any further by clearing his mind. It wasn't Kagome's fault, it was his. He knew from the start that it wasn't safe to leave someone who didn't have the traits of youkai behind. For that, he cursed himself. All he could do now was hope that Kagome could survive against whatever it was on her own until he found her.

_Hang on, Kagome..._

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Kagome found herself backing up against the dark, massive tree that aided her fall. She felt cold, intimidating eyes observe her. Standing only a few feet away was Sesshoumaru, who showed no hint of emotion. A sharp gasp managed to come out from her parted lips, as she attempted to soothe her shaken body.

_Kami, am I going to die?_

As far as she knew, she couldn't fight against him. Her bow and arrows weren't there by her side for protection. If she attempted screaming once more, she would not only lose her voice, but would probably be killed for making Sesshoumaru's ears bleed.

Nonetheless, her life was something that she held value for. It sounded rash altogether, coming from someone like herself. She chose to think more along the lines of the subject. Was it really worth risking? Would it be best if she gambled her final chip, or leave herself to dangle helplessly in the hands of Sesshoumaru?

She sadly realized it would probably be for the best if no one heard her shrieking outburst; especially Inuyasha. She slowly gulped at the thought. What would happen if Inuyasha actually picked up her voice and went after her?

There was one thing she knew for certain. She never doubted it for a single moment. If Inuyasha were to find her with Sesshoumaru, it would end with a peaceful conversation. As if! She knew better.

_Baka! Baka! Baka! Why didn't I at least bring arrows with me?_

However, as she recalled, Inuyasha was always able to defeat his half-brother countless times in the past. If she wasn't worried, what was the problem? Why did she even care? She knew perfectly well that Inuyasha could fight against him. If there was one thing she knew she wanted, it was to live. There was still her life to consider that she had yet to live to the fullest. She wanted to go through her last year as a teenager before approaching the peak of adulthood. Was that really so much to ask?

_Knowing him, if he sees Sesshoumaru, he'll jump out carelessly and fight with a cocky attitude. Sesshoumaru is someone serious. If he was a man in my time, he would be considered an assassin._

What was she to do? She already tried running. If she was so concerned for Inuyasha's safety that she rather him not come after her at all, there wasn't much choice left for her to make. Her heart slowly began to sink. She had no choice; there was nothing else she could think of. She would have to at least try and stall him.

"C-can I help you, Sesshoumaru?"

Now, as stupid as it sounded, perhaps talking to Sesshoumaru wasn't such a bad idea as it seemed. He wasn't like most youkai when it came to low intelligence. She assumed he would be aristocratic about it and actually hold a conversation with her.

She wasn't surprised that he didn't respond.

He did despise humans. If he disliked them with a passion, why would he bother talking to one? As much as Kagome didn't want to think about it, she started leaning towards her fictional image of him slaughtering her. She shuddered at the thought. Such a horrific possibility.

"Miko..."

She was interrupted by a masculine voice in front of her. She started to hesitate, but finally gained the courage to look up from the ground at him.

"You are to come with me, without any complaints."

This was just too good to be true. Now she had a new nickname to add to the other ones Inuyasha once invented solely for her purpose! If things could possibly get any worse. The fact Sesshoumaru resorted to nicknaming her in a lowly way caused her blood to boil. Fear was soon replaced by her clouded temper. She started over towards him, until she was as close to him as she was when once touching his tail.

"Listen here, Sesshoumaru. There's no chance I'm going with you to kami knows where! For all I know, this is probably a trap to lure Inuyasha to exchange the Tessaiga for my life. Well, it won't work! As precious as I am to him, Inuyasha will never give his weapon up to the likes of you! He'll slice your other arm off before you have the chance of killing me!"

Kagome quickly slapped a hand over her mouth. Did she just say that aloud? She had been running after her perfect chance of escape, but to no advantage. Her chance had gone straight down the drain, causing her to murmur about how big her mouth was.

Before he could react, Sesshoumaru turned to look out into the forest, causing Kagome to stare at him in surprise. Did he not care about what she had just shouted in his face? She just now spoke of him like he was lower than a human and most importantly spoke of his only arm in a threatening way. She could hear his deep, icy voice reply softly.

"It seems Inuyasha has come for you, after all..."

Kagome then realized that he was serious. She could sense Inuyasha's presence somewhere off in a part of the forest. She removed the hand over her mouth, a smirk slowly forming as she placed her hand on her hip.

"What did I tell you? He knows I'm in danger, so he's off to rescue me! I'd best watch over your last arm."

Sesshoumaru felt an inaudible growl rumble from within his chest.

_Impudent human. Does she expect to affect this Sesshoumaru with words?_

Sesshoumaru paused to look out at the sky while Kagome continued speaking in defense, not noticing that he wasn't listening to a word she said. He started sniffing the air. The scent of fresh droplets could easily be pinpointed inside the clouds above them. He turned to smirk at the human, seeing her mouth gape for a second before shutting it.

"The smell of rain is becoming stronger and is coming towards us. Inuyasha will not know I am here with you, for I have the ability to mask my scent. How will that hanyou find you, if your scent is mixed with the rain?"

The first thing that flowed into Kagome's head was what sort of torture Sesshoumaru was accustomed to. She began to fret so much it made her want to pace. Was he bluffing? Of course he was! This was probably a front in order to worry her. She gave the taiyoukai a piercing glare.

"You're lying! There hasn't been a cloud in the sky all day!"

Sesshoumaru's eyes slowly blinked his eyes dull and lifeless. Even with his keen hearing, the miko's high-pitched cries hadn't affected him.

"You think I'm lying?"

"Do you expect me to believe the words of someone who once tried killing me?"

She was asking for it. He wanted to extend his claws out and dig into her creamy flesh, feeling streams of red spill. Unfortunately, he couldn't do this, or he would be asking for it if he found out about it.

_This pathetic wench is worse than Rin was..._

"Enough of your foolish games. You are coming with me, whether you like it or not, human."

Kagome stood her ground and gave him another sharp, daggering glare.

"I'm not human or miko. I'm Kagome. KA-GO-ME!"

Sesshoumaru approached her, causing her to shrink and back up against the tree. His hand went out and placed itself high above her head, his nails digging into the tree's bark.

"My patience has gone as far as it can go. Forget the senseless ideas that my brother has filled your mindless head with. Do not speak of him in my presence, do not speak to me, do not bother me with any of your dilemmas, and at most, do not come within my space if you wish to live."

His nails scraped down the tree, causing thin strips of bark to dangle and float aimlessly to the ground. Kagome nervously watched his nails remove from the injured tree. She had lost all courage and hope that she had once built up. He had destroyed it all in a single swipe.

Droplets began to fall. Cold drops of water slowly began to increase more as the exchanged silence from both inhabitants passed.

Kagome looked up at the dark sky and looked back down, her face flushing in embarrassment. Sesshoumaru hadn't been fooling about this either.

She didn't know how she was supposed to feel right now. If she wanted to live long enough for Inuyasha to find her, she would have to do as she was told. She had to keep her faith in him. They would all find her, she was sure of it.

Sesshoumaru turned away from her and started striding back, not bothering to turn back.

"Come."

She slowly began to follow him with no hesitance, keeping her distance from him like she was instructed.

The only problem with Inuyasha finding her was that she didn't expect any of them to know that she ran into Sesshoumaru. They'd never expect it, unless Inuyasha miraculously picked up his scent. As to the reason behind Sesshoumaru wanting her to follow, she didn't know. The only answer she could think of was being a part of his new plot for getting the Tessaiga.

She had never felt so weak and pathetic. Before she knew the existence of the well, she had been there for Souta when he had bullies. Back then, she had been able to stand up for him and chase them off; as his shield, and as his oneesan. It may have not been brute strength, but they were only elementary students. She had no reason to hurt them, for they were but conniving brats to her, but that was beyond the point.

Ah, yes. The point.

Sango had the Hiraikotsu and was trained under the natural skills of combat against youkai. As her companion and a youkai herself, Kirara could naturally fight. The lecherous houshi, Miroku had his downfalls, but the Kazaana proved its usefulness. Aside from the Samiyoushou, Miroku could suck anything into his void. The priorities of a kitsune, Shippou's ability to pull off illusions were both intriguing and useful, in one way or another. As for the strongest of them all, Inuyasha, she felt no need to mention anything along his lines.

All Kagome had were the bow and arrows strapped to her back wherever she went. She only had the abilities of that of a miko. Not that being a miko was a bad thing, it was actually a great feat and honor to even be one.

The sad thing about it was that she wasn't the one who originated in the abilities of her own purity. After all, she was the reincarnation of Kikyou.

_Even so, Kikyou could do much more than I could._

That was her biggest downfall with only using bow and arrows. Whenever she would use them, she would run out of arrows and would be left empty-handed in battle. She would have to be rescued by Inuyasha or Sango otherwise.

For those reasons, Kagome felt incredibly weak. Not only did she feel weak, but she also felt careless.

She had no reason to make any excuses. She had forgotten to bring her bow and arrows to the hotspring with Sango that night. It didn't sound much like a mistake, but she always brought them wherever she went. That alone had been a slip of hers that day.

Kagome always wished she had been strong like Inuyasha. She wished she had the abilities of a youkai, or even a hanyou. This was known to be her darkest secret, one that she never shared with anyone, not her family and not even Sango.

Inuyasha didn't need wimpy arrows to defend himself. He held a massive sword with many techniques behind it. The Kaze no Kizu and Bakuryuuha were only a few of the many talents of Tessaiga. Inuyasha could battle without the sword by his claws and agility if he desired. Even under the spell of the new moon, he had the protection of Tessaiga's sheath.

She never meant to sound selfish, but wouldn't anyone else want to do more than just use arrows? Of course, there was the great damage behind her miko energy, but she could do nothing with it but shoot arrows engulfed in her aura. Kikyou probably sent blasts of her power and used her energy to heal those in need. She didn't always depend on arrows.

In the end, they all had variety; something Kagome did not have.

Her bangs fell over her eyes as she continued to follow; her hair and clothes slowly getting soaked.

The walk had been silent and fairly far from the village and forest they were once in. She looked up to see that Sesshoumaru hadn't slowed down his pace and noticed the outlines of three further ahead.

"Keep up the pace, human."

"H-hai, Sesshoumaru."

"You do not have the advantage of talking to me so sincerely. You will answer me with respect."

"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama…"

A drop of water fell onto her face. It slipped down from her forehead to the edge of her eye, as it stretched down her cheek and dripped off her chin.

_I hope the others find me soon..._

Kagome looked up at the dark, wispy sky once more. She knew for a fact that the rain was doing more than just watering the soil.

It was as if it was crying, for her purpose.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Rin sat on the back of AhUn in silence. Earlier that afternoon, Sesshoumaru left her behind to Jaken's watchful eye. From then to the early evening had been both quiet and uneventful to Jaken's happiness. Once rain fell from the sky and touched her skin, AhUn moved beneath the closest tree. This may have not stopped all of the raindrops from hitting her, but it was the best shelter they could have until their Lord returned. It was not until many passing minutes elapsed that Rin spotted the familiar outline of Sesshoumaru. Rin at this time usually went through her routine by giving him her biggest smile, but it never came to shine across her face.

He was still too far to view, so she couldn't tell all the details at first. Behind him, at his left side, there were the contours of another person. She didn't know who it was, except that the follower was shorter than him. At the age of an innocent child, Rin could only assume one thing.

"Ooh, Sesshoumaru-sama has brought Rin a visitor!"

Jaken stepped forward to stop beside AhUn. He wasn't surprised that Rin's sudden chirp broke his long, well-deserved silence. The wretched girl! His slit eyes turned to stare at her. Rin was off in her own world and never noticed the look of hate he gave. She continued looking forward, as if she was purposely ignoring him. This, however, didn't stop the dwarf-sized youkai from spitting out at her in irritation.

"Stop speaking of such nonsense, Rin! Sesshoumaru-sama would never-"

The imp's body twitched before he was able to finish. Something within him didn't feel right. His instincts kept telling him to stop while he was ahead, like he was only steps away from his trip straight down to hell. He had no idea why such a feeling came to be so suddenly.

"Do continue. You have caught my interest, Jaken..."

He jumped in surprise, nearly stumbling over in front of the all-too-familiar voice. There was no mistaken who it was. Just having a glance of Sesshoumaru alone caused Jaken to clasp his hands together and sweat nervously at his attendance. He hoped he hadn't angered him.

"Y-you would never be as low as to bringing someone else to slow your travels more."

Once she noticed Sesshoumaru come to a stop, Kagome decided she also should do the same and keep her distance. She peered around him and noticed the familiar faces she had seen before while traveling with Inuyasha.

Jaken could only gawk. It was the human girl that traveled with Sesshoumaru-sama's half-brother! What was she doing here? He turned to see Sesshoumaru look over at him, one that seemed to pierce his soul. He shivered, shakily giving the taiyoukai a bow, before he backed away. When his lord gave him such a look, he knew it was best not to bother or mess with him.

"F-forget the words that have come from this mouth, Sesshoumaru-sama."

Sesshoumaru dismissed any further attention to him. He never understood why he took the youkai in the first place. He had been nothing but a nuisance. The only use he had been was keeping Rin distracted while he went off to his own business. Shutting his eyes, he started over to AhUn. Rin crossed her arms around her body and began to shiver, looking over at Sesshoumaru in a beseeching way.

"S-Sesshoumaru-sama, Rin is getting cold from the rain. Rin's hair and clothes are starting to get wet."

Sesshoumaru glanced at Rin before he turned away and continued walking forward. He did not wish to lose anymore of his precious time by wasting it with his half-brother's wench, but the child had made a decent point. He, as a youkai would not have to worry about it, but as a human, Rin was frailer when it came to health. It was only common sense when comparing human to youkai.

"There is some shelter nearby..."

Rin's eyes began to sparkle. Whenever she asked for anything from him, it was as if Sesshoumaru planned everything out for her ahead of time. Even as innocent and simple-minded as herself, she was not the least bit surprised. This was Sesshoumaru-sama after all; the great Lord of the West.

"Arigatou, Sesshoumaru-sama!"

Kagome had watched the whole conversation. She was left very much in confusion. None of what she had seen between the child and youkai seemed to make any sense.

_A-am I missing something?_

If she didn't know any better, she would have thought Rin admired the youkai. How could that have been possible? What was there to like about an emotionless being who happened to be someone high in the monarchy? She couldn't see anything that proved he was of such rank, except for his taste in clothes. If he was a lord, did he have his own land? Was he the ruler of his race?

Kagome noticed Sesshoumaru was already several paces ahead. Jaken noticed this and looked over to see what had caught her eye. He soon realized that Sesshoumaru was leaving them behind and rushed to catch up with him. Ah and Un's heads both reacted and turned to also follow.

She watched them descend through the rain's blinding sheet of droplets. It was then that she was completely caught off guard, realizing she was supposed to follow them. She ran faster than Jaken did to catch up and chose to stop next to Rin, who still rode on AhUn's back.

Rin turned to peer at the new follower once more when she stopped next to her. She remembered seeing this lady from Sesshoumaru's occasional bumping in with his half-brother's party. Her hair was inches longer, she wore different clothes, and her legs weren't revealed like they once were. She didn't recall Sesshoumaru ever mentioning this lady's name.

"Pretty lady?"

Kagome's eye twitched slightly at the nickname her ears picked up. She realized it wasn't Sesshoumaru who called to her this time, causing her to turn and smile. It was too much of a compliment anyway that she easily recognized to have been someone else. Someone who sounded much younger.

"Rin, is it?"

Rin responded with a grin. Her hand went out and patted behind her, on AhUn's saddle.

"Come sit with Rin!"

Kagome chuckled at Rin's use of grammar. She didn't really mind, she actually thought it was pretty cute.

Kagome noticed AhUn stop for her, both of its pair of eyes calmly looking at her. She was confused by its action at first, but assumed it understood what Rin asked for her to do. The animal was more intelligent than one would have first thought. Seeing that it didn't seem to care, Kagome pulled her body up, guiding herself by one leg after the other. Once Kagome was situated on its back, AhUn continued walking forward. Once the two-headed creature caught up with its master and honored him by keeping its distance, Rin turned back to face Kagome. Now, where would she start?

"Why were you with Sesshoumaru-sama? Did he need to speak with you? Did he need your help? Does he know you? Did you call for him? Are you his wife?"

"Slow down, Rin! I don't-"

Kagome realized the last thing she heard the girl say, causing her to have a look of shock on her face. Maybe she was stressed, since she had no choice but to follow Sesshoumaru. Anyone would be stressed out of their mind if they didn't know their kidnapper's true intentions.

Did Sesshoumaru kidnap her? Or was he merely borrowing her for some other reason?

She shook her head. Just thinking about it made her head hurt. She must've stressed enough that it caused her to hear things that weren't said.

"What did you say?"

"Rin asked why you are with Sesshoumaru-sama and if-"

She quickly covered Rin's mouth with one hand and looked above her. Could Sesshoumaru hear the both of them talking? Making sure he didn't turn his head, she looked back at Rin.

"I-I meant the last thing you said."

Rin giggled.

"Rin asked if you were Sesshoumaru-sama's wife."

Kagome continued looking at the child in disbelief. Did she actually think that she and Sesshoumaru were…_augh_! What a horrible thought to even think of! She could already imagine if she was with Sesshoumaru in that way. She would always be ordered around and spat at, never to be treated like a loved one. Do _this_, and do _that_! Her face scrunched more by just thinking about it.

Concern began to show in Rin's eyes. Kagome noticed this and smiled. Rin had no reason to worry; she was but a child after all.

"Don't worry. It's nothing."

Rin flashed her huge, cute smile.

"What's your name, pretty lady?"

"My name? It's Kagome."

AhUn was no longer moving. They both found Sesshoumaru and Jaken had also stopped. Before any of them moved, Sesshoumaru walked forward to a tree and sat underneath it, his eyes slowly shutting. To the right of him stood a stone den. The gap leading to the inside wasn't as small as it first seemed. As a matter of fact; it looked more like a small cave because the hole was bigger than any of the dens she had seen.

To Rin's relief, they came to some shelter. She happily jumped off of AhUn and darted in to avoid any further rain from hitting her skin. Kagome had only started getting off of AhUn.

"Wait up, Rin!"

Rin paid no attention and stepped into the fairly dark grotto. Kagome followed after her and stopped once she came inside and gave their shelter a good look. She didn't expect there were any bears. She finished her observation and nodded. It was tall and big enough for both of them to stand, but the width inside wasn't spacious like in the horror flicks she had watched with Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi. In the end, the den was decent enough for one night.

She turned back to the outside to see rain continue to fall. Her eyes stopped at Sesshoumaru, who allowed rain to fall on his body through the tree's barrier of leaves.

"Is he okay, staying outside while it rains?"

"Sesshoumaru-sama is fine. He told Rin that youkai don't get sick as often as humans do."

Kagome blushed lightly, sweatdropping at the obvious statement.

"I guess that would be true."

Why was she concerned? It made sense that youkai had a stronger immunity than humans. Didn't Sango tell her that same thing once? She shook her head once again. There was no need to hurt herself by thinking too much. She was probably just tired.

Rin walked over to one side of the cave. She let a yawn escape from her mouth before she moved to lie down on the ground. Kagome passed her by and lay against one of the den's walls. As soon as she sat down, she noticed Rin's position.

"You aren't planning to sleep on the floor, are you?"

Rin pulled her head up before her dark hair touched the dirt floor.

"Rin always sleeps on the ground when she's out with Sesshoumaru-sama."

_Poor child. She goes through so much to be with Sesshoumaru. Why does she risk so much for someone who'll never return her respect?_

Kagome couldn't help but feel sympathy for her. She was still confused by the child's actions for following someone like Sesshoumaru. Did she honestly think he was good? Did she see something inside of him that she was unable to see with her own eyes? How had Rin met Sesshoumaru in the first place?

"Come here, Rin."

Rin pulled the rest of her body up and walked over to Kagome, not knowing the true reason she summoning her. The miko smiled and her hand went out, signaling for lay down beside her lap.

"Rest your head on my lap. It should be more comfortable."

Rin's eyes lit up. She knelt next to Kagome and laid her head on her jeans, letting her body touch the ground. Her eyes slowly started to shut in the comfort of Kagome's radiating body heat. Her pants were still fairly wet, but they already were starting to dry.

AhUn stepped inside the small cave, passing Jaken who decided to lean against the inner-rim of the cave. He was sound asleep while holding the staff. Kagome looked up from Rin to see the youkai cautiously stepping towards her. Kagome realized what it wanted and nodded, scooting away from the wall. AhUn stepped behind them, plopping its scaly hide behind her and resting its heads on its two front legs.

_Well, this is better than a cold wall. I should make the best of it._

Placing her hand on the top of Rin's head, she placed her head and body against AhUn. She slowly drifted to sleep, unaware that a pair of golden eyes looked over at her before shutting once more.

- - - - - - - - - - -

**Next Chapter**

The travel with Sesshoumaru continues and Kagome gets tired of being treated so lowly. Miko, human, woman; she's sick of it all. The time to follow in what she believes in begins now.

Visions of Destiny, Chapter 4: **Regard**.

_N-nani?_

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Whew! I can finally work on Chapter 4! Again, I am grateful for all the reviews I have gotten so far. Click the review button to contribute! You know you want to!

- **KC**

- - - - - - - - - - - -


	4. Regard

Your senior year at school goes particularly better than you thought it would. You get all of your work finished and turned in and your teachers see you as a good example as a student who is serious about his/her education. All is well, but deep inside; you ache to work on your fanfiction(s) more than anything. You finally manage to finish each pile of work and projects from each class you attend and are happy that you can finally work on your fiction(s) again. Then, you go cynical, realizing that such things would be too good to be true, as you heard each of your teachers announce more work for you to do.

Been there and still am...

I finally got my few weeks off for the Christmas holidays after my exams. Sometimes, I wish I would never grow up and stay with such simple, quick 'n' easy work. Then again, there's only five to six more months until I'm officially a highschool graduate. I'll get my ass so handed at college, I just know it...

Ack! I can't believe I got a C+ on my Algebra II Exam! Well, maybe I can...  
Damn you, oniisan. I swear he sucked all the math talent up before I could get any of it.

Alright, enough: _Pitying Demon Kaizoku_. Chapter Four is finally up; thank kami.

Yes, I'm still alive. I thank those who still waited on me and believed that I would post! I noticed there were a few that removed me from their favorite stories.

Oh well, I know I'll be able to make it up!

-

Legend:

"Quotes" - Speech.  
**Bold - "Miscellaneous Youkai Speech."**  
_Italic - Thoughts.  
**Bold/Italic - Flashback/Dream.**_  
(Parenthesis) – Imagination.

-

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Translations:

**Oneechan **- Sister.  
**Sugoi **- Amazing / Incredible, etc.

-

**Disclaimer**: I do not own the manga or anime of Inuyasha. It belongs to Rumiko Takahashi!

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Visions of Destiny

Chapter 4

**Regard**

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"When I let you go off to find Kagome on your own, I didn't expect you to return empty-handed."

"Don't start with me, Sango." Inuyasha growled.

The past three days of non-stop travel had been decent. Kami blessed them with cool breezes from the rain that came and went those few days ago. After some debate, they chose to start their search by going south. However, wouldn't one wonder how they were able to choose where to go of all places?

Having no clue where to begin from the start, they decided to use Miroku's staff to randomly pick the direction they would go. This wasn't something Miroku exactly had in mind. Much to his dismay, Inuyasha snatched it from him, threw it to the ground, and began to spin it. It pointed in said-direction and their journey for Kagome began.

During most of their travel, the skies remained partially covered with clouds, making the summer heat less intense. As of today, every trace of shade suddenly disappeared. The more they journeyed south, the warmer it was getting. Aside from Inuyasha's complaints, they were grateful for the most part that the heat hadn't been sweltering yet; they could only pray that the heat would decrease.

Ever since Inuyasha's return from searching, early the next morning, and brought the bad news to everyone, they directly left from the village with him and started the search for their friend. Inuyasha hadn't gone into much detail about Kagome's sudden disappearance, only that he couldn't find a trace of her. This made everyone including Kirara grow more curious by the minute. Was there something he wasn't telling them?

"It's not that what you've told us isn't enough for us to come with you, but just what exactly happened?"

Inuyasha knew the question would be directed towards him sooner or later. Shippou, Sango, and Miroku were discussing who would ask him. He knew this because he heard their whispers from behind him. The ears on the top of his head weren't there for decoration, you know. Obviously, Miroku lost the verbal battle against the Taijiya and kitsune. This caused Inuyasha to let out a loud, exasperated sigh. He had a feeling he couldn't hide much from them any longer.

"I only know so much, as of now." The serious-tone of voice from Inuyasha caused the four to look over with interest.

"The night I went to search for Kagome, it wasn't all that easy. Once I left, when I picked up her screaming, rain started to pour. It was hard for me to track her scent at first."

"You weren't able to find Kagome-sama, because the rain not only mixed with her scent, but with many others?" Inuyasha nodded.

"There's obviously more to this than you're letting on." Sango interposed. Shippou nodded, sitting on one of the houshi's shoulders. Kirara also piped in with an agreeing mew before Inuyasha waved a hand at them.

"I'm getting to that."

"I'm sure Kagome's only lost somewhere, or she left to go home." Shippou chirped in a positive voice. The two young adults noticed Inuyasha turn away from Shippou, leaving their walk currently in silence. Miroku turned to look at Sango. As he noticed, her face began to etch in worry, his gaze quickly returned to the back of Inuyasha's head, which was steadily moving further away as he watched.

"Kagome-sama knows the village and its forests like it were her own home, and she would have told us if she left for home. Sango's right, isn't she, Inuyasha?"

Fear began eating at Shippou. The thought of something terrible happening to his motherly figure caused him to move about nervously.

"S-she wasn't abducted, was she?"

Inuyasha didn't bother looking at the kit. He couldn't help but grimace as his hand tightly balled into a fist. Such action made them worry all the more as he nearly drew blood from the palm of his hand. In an audible whisper, he began.

"Just when I lost all hope of finding her, I spotted a few footprints and suddenly caught a little bit of her scent. So I continued to search and ended up being rewarded by finding a few traces. I noticed there was another pair of footprints with hers, to a tree that had a mark only one with claws could make. By the time, I traced her steps with the other; rain came down harder. Wherever their footprints would lead to, they've likely disappeared at this point with most of her scent. I-I don't know who it is, but _whoever _or _whatever _it was, wanted Kagome."

Sango gave him a look of horror. Her head lowered as she grimaced, tightly clenching her fists as well as her eyes closed.

"This is my fault. If only I waited for Kagome at the hot spring, none of this would have ever happened!"

Inuyasha's ears flattened as he turned away. If Miroku was never able to tell by the way Sango acted with her feelings or actions, then all the years he spent with her had been for naught. Of course, he knew better. Seeing that she was completely blaming herself for Kagome, he moved to stand closer next to her, placing a hand on one of her shoulders.

"Don't blame yourself. None of this is your fault."

Shippou's eyes began to flood with tears.

"K-kagome's gone!"

"I don't care about your opinion on this, houshi-sama! Kagome's gone! And as an elder sibling to her, it's my responsibility to make sure she's safe!" Sango's eyes glowered in anger as an aura of flame engulfed her, marking Miroku as her target for her boomerang. Miroku started to sweat and backed away from her, hoping to calm her down.

"Now now, Sango..." He spoke nervously. Shippou was off of Miroku's shoulder and moved about in a pace, crying his eyes out.

"W-what if K-kagome was taken by a youkai? W-what if Naraku took her or worse... what if Kagome was e-eaten!"

"LAY OFF, MIROKU!"

"Okaasan!"

Inuyasha's ears began to twitch angrily. As he slowly clenched his hand, a vein began to pop from the back of his head.

"Sango I-"

"ENOUGH ALREADY! What makes you think I would let anything bad happen to Kagome!" They froze, giving their full-attention towards Inuyasha, with only the exception of Shippou still sniffling.

"I don't care that you blame yourself, I don't care that you get hit in the process, and I certainly could care less if you're crying! As far as I'm concerned, all I care about is finding Kagome and killing off who kidnapped her!" His short, arrogant speech stopped any of them from continuing further and he turned away from them and nodded in satisfaction. As he did so, he picked up a sense of youki from a distance. Kirara also sensed an upcoming arrival and hopped off of Sango's shoulder and transformed.

"Kirara?"

She started to growl out in defense, stepping in front of Sango. Inuyasha blinked and turned to look at his side, noticing Tessaiga's sheath was pulsing lightly.

"I don't know what it is, but Tessaiga doesn't seem to like it." Miroku moved from confronting Sango, his view in front of him passing Inuyasha. That was when he noticed a dot appear from a distance.

"Over there!" He pointed. Inuyasha looked away from the sheath and also saw the close, approaching figures.

Roars could be heard throughout as the dot came closer, causing Shippou to jump and run behind Kirara. Before they knew it, their enemy, or better yet enemies, appeared at the scene.

There were twelve long and gigantic dragon youkai. They were definitely many times bigger than the entire group combined in size. If Inuyasha didn't know any better, he would have thought that each were near the size of Ryuukotsusei!

All dragons stared at them, their eyes alone showing ravenous hunger for blood. The largest of them, a black dragon, dove towards them before the others followed. Shippou's feet began to shake as his hands clutched onto one of Kirara's back legs. He gulped when he saw the others prepare themselves to fight. Miroku looked up at the youkai calmly, his staff in hand while his other hand readied by grasping his beads. Sango fingered the golden-like tassel that acted as the handle of her boomerang and Kirara gave one of her shrieking hisses, now standing beside Sango. Inuyasha gave an amused smirk, the stress of guilt that once built up from his comrade's a moment ago slowly diminished. He brought the Tessaiga from within its scabbard and flung its massive weight to one side.

"Keh! This will be easy!"

One of the dragons flew ahead of the black one and attempted snapping at Inuyasha. The hanyou easily sidestepped, causing the dragon to pass, its fangs giving a sickening snap. Miroku, Sango, and Kirara moved towards him, completing the rest of the circle with Inuyasha as Shippou hid in the center.

"Sango, you and Miroku take any that try attacking from behind. Kirara, I depend on you to take the ones from the sides."

"What about you? We wouldn't want to take away all your fun." Miroku smirked. Inuyasha responded with another smirk of his own and looked back to face it with the front of Tessaiga.

"I'm taking down the biggest one."

"W-what about me?" Shippou stuttered.

Before Inuyasha could retort, the other dragons split up around them. Shippou screamed, scurrying back in the sanctuary. Kirara started off, as Miroku and Sango also departed together. Shippou jerked, noticing all of them leave him behind; he was the only one left standing. He turned back to see a dragon blink at him.

He blinked back.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Shippou barely managed to whack one of the dragons out of his way in his pink bubble form, floating off quickly into the forest.

Sango and Miroku barely managed to scratch each of their hides. The scales were bad as the snake youkai's from days back, if not worse. Kirara sunk her teeth into one, while Inuyasha pulled Tessaiga back from the black dragon's grip. It stopped attacking and flew back above them. It turned and gave a loud roar to the others, causing them to stop and turn. They soon recovered from their scratches and flew back beside the head dragon. They stared down at each of them once again. Inuyasha backed up with Tessaiga at his side as the others regrouped beside him.

"This doesn't look good for us." Sango stated, causing Inuyasha to scoff.

"I'll handle this myself." He brought the Tessaiga up with both hands. He could both see and feel his demonic energy clash against theirs. His blade began to outline in gold.

"Baku-"

Meanwhile, Shippou fled through the forest, being the only one out of the group who currently found his life more valuable. He stopped to still see the dragons from the distance he ran. Fast footsteps could be heard padding closer towards him. His ears barely managed to pick up a vibration and turned. Suddenly, a red blur passed him. He stopped short only to be almost run over by the blur. He screamed loudly and jumped to the side.

"N-nani?"

The blur continued forward with speed that could easily compare to Kouga's.

Kirara turned from the dragons, giving a small snort. Sango looked over at her companion in slight confusion.

Inuyasha suddenly felt the Bakuryuuha slowly fade from the Tessaiga. He turned in irritation to see another dot from the distance. Before it passed Miroku, it jumped high enough to be above all the dragons. The youkai looked over in surprise as the blur gave the gigantic dragon a painful kick at the snout, sending it off a few feet to the ground.

Sango and Miroku stared in shock. The figure landed swiftly, her back facing them. At least, they hoped the figure was female, considering the curved hips and long garnet hair that naturally curled on the edges. Strapped diagonally, underneath her hair was a double-bladed naginata with a simple leather handle in the center. Turning slightly to face the dragons, both blades reflected in the afternoon sun.

Who was this woman? What business did she have here? As Miroku took the time to check the woman's hourglass figure, he noticed ends of pointy ears hidden in her hair.

_A youkai?_

Sango nearly gasped at what she wore. Covering her feet and stretching up to her neck, her body was covered entirely in silk.

_Whoever this is, she must be pretty wealthy. _

Inuyasha, on the other hand, had a closer view of the woman. Her body was fairly lean, but not in a bad way at all. As a matter of fact, he could tell from a quick glance that she was definitely in good shape. Her limbs were long, yet he had no doubt that they were slightly toned with muscle. Her scent, how different that also was from any scent he ever picked up; the scent of ash, tinged with the right amount of sweet spices.

As she landed, her eyes were closed and before he could see them open or any other smaller detail, she quickly turned to a different view.

The other dragons glared at her before deciding to attack, forgetting the others that stood and watched in silence. The blood-haired woman gave a light chuckle before bounding back up. All dragons surrounded her, giving her no chance to fight back by each attacking from the left and right at the same time. The woman brought out her weapon and faced each and every one of them. She gave the weapon a quick spin above her head, as both blades on each side began to glow. Lowering her weapon and bringing it back, she dashed towards them. A gigantic, curved line of aura appeared as she slashed ten of the dragons at once, causing them to fall. No matter how much damage came from that attack, for some odd reason, not a single drop of blood fell from any of them. The woman landed back gracefully to the ground. The last dragon hissed at her and attacked from behind. She quickly faced it and smirked.

Inuyasha froze his mouth currently agape. Purple slitted eyes flared with excitement, as she leapt over the last dragon and landed behind it.

All dragons shuffled back up, their eyes piercing at her. She grinned and turned to one side, swiping her hand out before she ran off. The dragons all roared in irritation and followed. All twelve youkai, including the strange woman slowly disappeared from sight and off towards the North.

All Miroku and Sango could do was let their jaws drop at the unexpected event. Even Kirara's eyes gave a look of surprise. A weak wind flew passed them. Inuyasha's hair flowed, his mouth still slightly open.

_Who was that?_

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Kagome sat on a small tuft of grass in a simple, woodland location, far from the village she had grown accustom to while on her travels. Bringing her legs up for her arms to rest on, she found herself reminiscing over the friends she was forced to leave behind.

_Why does this always happen to me? How many times have I been taken away since I first set foot in the Feudal Era anyway? _

Throughout the short time, she spent with Inuyasha's half-brother, his secret ward, and faithful retainer, her worry for the outcome of her disappearance only grew. Surely, they knew by now that she hadn't left for home without them knowing. It had been three days, after all. Three _very _long days.

Was it possible that her friends from the era didn't want to waste any more time from finding more of the jewel shards by looking for her instead? Could she be forgotten so easily?

_It's not like Mama and the others had more of a clue than the others did._

Her hair softly glided in the cool breeze as her arms went loosely around her body. What had been up with the weather recently? Summer had been along the lines of being a warm and sticky time of year. Though, it seemed the further Sesshoumaru was taking her, such heat slowly began to decrease. It wasn't cold enough for snow or ice to take place, but such weather was definitely different from back in the village. She would gladly jump in a lake to cool off if she were still there. Though, as she sat alone, her body was clearly satisfied where she was. It hadn't been too warm or cold, but in-between. Maybe they were starting to approach mountainous regions? If only she had a compass with her.

Such suspicion soon diminished and the image of Inuyasha came to mind, as bits of anger slowly started to rise from inside of her.

Try as she might, her anger couldn't last for long. With three days to herself, she realized she had no reason to blame Inuyasha this time. Did she catch him with Kikyou? Sure, a few times. Had she caught him making love to her and doing so in front of her on purpose?

As much as Inuyasha was stubborn, as much as he had no idea which to choose, he would never do anything to make her hate or spite him. Even if he did nothing to hurt her except for going to Kikyou, this didn't make Kagome any happier. What if he _had _made love with Kikyou and she just wasn't there to witness it?

_I bet he doesn't even care at all..._

"Kagome-neechan?" Mixed emotions of anger and sadness were pushed aside by a mere, innocent voice. Caramel eyes looked over to familiar chestnut ones behind her. Kagome couldn't help but smile from the happiness that always radiated from the child. Balanced on one foot, Rin's arms were crossed behind her back as she tilted her head in curiosity.

"What are you doing, Kagome-neechan?"

"Thinking."

"About what?"

"Nothing, to be honest." She studied the child's slight confusion before noticing such expression was soon replaced with another smile.

"That's silly, 'neechan, you must have been thinking of _something_." Kagome chuckled softly.

"Perhaps, but that's a story to save for another day." She smirked at the child's sudden piqued interest with closed eyes. "Surely, you came over to see me for a reason, Rin-chan."

Rin giggled, showing off one of her goofy grins.

"Rin was wondering if Kagome-neechan could pick flowers with Rin." Kagome felt warmth inch throughout her body. Rin was the only one that was keeping her away from falling into insanity and defeat.

"Of course." Rin's eyes glowed as she beamed with enthusiasm. Her hand shot out, gently grasping hers. The miko looked at her clasped hand; she could feel Rin already starting to tug her off, which made her laugh, before she slowly clasped her hand around the other.

Who could blame Kagome for being nearly driven insane? The only company she had was Sesshoumaru, Jaken, and AhUn. The two-headed beast also gave nice company, but with carrying her and Rin some of the time, she didn't want to wear out her welcome towards it too quickly. As for the other two, Jaken hadn't deemed her worthy as of yet to speak toward her so willingly, and the taiyoukai barely looked at her or allowed her to speak to him. The only response she could give was a nod for doing something for Rin and AhUn, or when he was satisfied how much they traveled on foot that day.

Traveling, one thing Kagome was grateful she did plenty of beforehand. For once, Kagome inwardly thanked Inuyasha for always pushing her with the others to continue travel for the Shikon shards. Before she knew she could travel through the well, the only exercise she had was gym at school. Getting up early in the morning to walk around the neighborhood wasn't something Kagome wanted at first, but through the years with Inuyasha and the others, she grew use to the daily workout. The only problem about traveling with Sesshoumaru was she couldn't easily approach him and ask if they could stop for a break. That was another thing she liked about Rin; she was able to ask him what she wanted. Yet, through only three days of travel, journeying mostly in silence started boring her. The only things that helped her were the beautiful landscapes they passed by, Rin, and AhUn.

Rin dropped her hand and ran off to the lush field of flowers. Her eyes sparkled at the varieties. There were much more than the last time! She turned away from the flowers and waved her hand out at Kagome as she laughed, still within close distance. Kagome stepped forward and soon stopped alongside Rin. She had to admit, the child was already starting to grow on her.

"Look at these, Kagome-neechan!" There were small bunches of colorful aster, lovely aroma coming from pink sweet peas, and white daisies and lilies that complimented the field around the edges.

"Hai, they're beautiful, aren't they?" Rin moved forward, kneeling carefully beside a beautiful white lily.

"Pretty, isn't it?" Rin looked at Kagome, who also followed carefully through the flowers. She nodded.

"Rin likes this flower."

"As white as it is, it stands for its purity and sweetness. Where I come from, we call it the lily."

With an amazed look on her face, Rin continued.

"You know about flowers, 'neechan?"

"A bit. My okaasan grew up with flowers. No matter how odd or spiky a flower was, she loved them all for their different aspects. It took me awhile to realize a moral is behind that: _looks aren't always everything_." Rin nodded and looked back down at the lily.

"Then Rin will love every flower she sees!" Kagome smiled, watching her pluck a few daisies and aster. Leaving the lily behind caused Kagome to frown upon it. She knelt and plucked it herself, before turning to follow Rin.

"You know, I think you should also take this flower. It represents you best so far."

"Represents Rin?" She blinked.

"Hai. To me, you're both a pure and sweet child." Rin looked at the lily for another minute before she understood what Kagome meant. She giggled.

"Rin gets it! Rin should find Kagome-neechan's flower too!" Kagome watched the girl scavenger for the perfect flower. It was fairly amusing to watch her look through every inch of the field before moving to another square. She looked out at the clouded, pink skies. The sun would be setting soon.

"Rin found 'neechan's flower!"

"You did? Well, let's see it." Rin's closed hand slowly opened carefully. Her other hand went out to take it and placed it in the palm of Kagome's hand. She found a small, purple chrysanthemum in her hand. She looked down at it in slight surprise before glancing over at the smiling Rin. She knelt to her height and brought her into a hug.

"Arigatou, Rin-chan. I see you in the same way." Rin at this point was confused. She loved the hug she gave, but what had Kagome meant?

"Rin doesn't understand."

"Any chrysanthemum, except for the colors red, white, and yellow means you see the person you give it to as your best friend." Understanding now why she received such an embrace, Rin grinned and couldn't help but claim such victory.

"Kagome-neechan is Rin's best friend!" Kagome smiled and nodded as she pulled lightly from her. As soon as she found herself looking out, one thing in particular caught her eye. A silhouette stood in the distance next to a few trees. Long silver white hair flowed as honey-gold eyes looked into hers calmly, before turning to descend back deep in the wood.

_Sesshoumaru?_

Soon, taking his place was a smaller shadow, Jaken, who was shaking his Nintoujou.

"The fish is ready, so come if you're hungry!" Kagome's hand was soon taken by Rin's once again and she started off towards the wood.

"Rin's very hungry. Let's go, 'neechan!"

"Alright, there's no need to grasp so tightly." She chuckled once more, before she looked down at her open hand, which held the small flower. She clasped her hand softly around it, feeling a few of its small petals tickle at her palm.

+ - - - +

Another day passed since Kagome last saw Sesshoumaru in the woods, watching her with Rin. Before she knew it, it was nearly the end of the next day; five days since she was separated from the others. Not much was said when she asked where Sesshoumaru had gone. Rin could only tell her he usually left camp to his own business. As soon as they fell asleep on the night of the fourth day, the next morning, Sesshoumaru returned. She remembered he made sure their traveling had gone double that day.

Only walking halfway and riding on AhUn's back for the rest of the way, Kagome's legs and feet continued to throb. To her relief, Sesshoumaru stopped near the end of the wood to clear, grassy plains that stretched for many miles early that night. Kagome's eyes brightened when she noticed a hot spring was near their camp. She didn't hesitate to go and felt the need to take Rin with her. It was better to bathe with another than being alone.

She was glad to see flower petals in the area soaking in the spring. She would at least have some scent to her, instead of dunking her body in the water. Kagome regretted not having any shampoo or body wash with her, but she knew she would have to live with it for a while. As she watched Rin splash and swim in the spring, her eyes slowly closed in relaxation.

SPLASH!

Kagome was rudely woken by a splash of warm water across the face. Currently searching for the one who caused the splash, she noticed Rin giggling. Her glance slowly changed into that of evil, attempting to scare her.

"Get me wet, will you? Take this!" She splashed Rin back in the face. Believing she had won the battle, Kagome hadn't expected hearing such and blinked quizzically at what she was hearing. All she had gotten from her as a reaction was laughing?

"Think that's funny?" Soon, a splash war had begun. This continued until their hair was completely soaked along with their bodies. As tired of splashing as Rin was, Kagome sank back into the water, leaning against a tall, smooth rock.

"Rin-chan?"

"Mm?"

"I've always wondered and been meaning to ask you a couple of days ago."

"What is it?" Her eyes opened.

"If you don't mind me asking, how have you come to be with Sesshoumaru-sama?"

"Well, Rin once lived in a village alone. Rin wasn't treated very well from the villagers, but Rin still had a place to live. After the villagers hurt Rin-"

"T-they beat you!" Rin responded with a slow, meek nod as she looked into the water and at her own reflection.

"Rin chose to walk in the forest after. As Rin did so, she found Sesshoumaru-sama lying against a tree, injured. Rin approached to see if Sesshoumaru-sama was okay, but he tried to scare Rin away; though Rin wasn't afraid. Rin wanted to help Sesshoumaru-sama by giving him food and water."

"Just because you were nice, he let you stay with him?" Rin shook her head.

"Rin went to see Sesshoumaru-sama again, but Rin was attacked by a group of ookami."

_Why do I have the sudden feeling those were Kouga-kun's?_

"Rin thought she was dead, but then, Rin found herself in Sesshoumaru-sama's arms when she woke. As soon as Rin was back on her feet, Sesshoumaru-sama left. After that, Rin couldn't help but follow wherever he went."

"You followed him, so you can do anything to repay him for saving your life?" She shrugged.

"Rin wishes to always stay by Sesshoumaru-sama's side and be with him as much as Rin can." Kagome looked at her as if she were crazy, but he had rescued her from an early death. This only interested Kagome into continuing to contemplate more about it. How was Sesshoumaru able to accomplish that anyway?

_If Rin was sure she was killed, is it possible Sesshoumaru used the Tenseiga? _

There could be no other logical explanation. As far as everyone knew, the Tenseiga was the only thing in his possession that could revive lives. What puzzled her the most was why he used the Tenseiga. Didn't Sesshoumaru hate the blade so much that he would do anything to get rid of it? Why had he used the Tenseiga on Rin? Was the child more special to the youkai than she first predicted?

Rin stepped out of the hot spring, stretching her arms as far as she could before yawning. Noticing Rin was already starting to tire, Kagome decided to continue the thought later. She stepped out of the spring and stopped next to her, placing her hand on her wet hair.

"Tired?" Rin mumbled silently, rubbing her eyes. Kagome's hand combed through her soft hair and started ringing it out.

"We need to make sure you're a little dryer before you put your kimono back on." She rung most of the water out of Rin's hair and made sure she wasn't cold from any passing breeze. As soon as she was sure Rin was dry enough, she helped put her kimono on. When Kagome knew her own body and hair was given plenty of time to dry, she slipped back into her long sleeve top and jeans. Once she put her shoes back on, she guided Rin back to camp.

AhUn's heads rose from resting, hearing the girls return from their bath. As Kagome led her towards AhUn, Rin quietly fell to the ground and lay against the beast's belly. AhUn gave a soft growl and rested their heads back, bringing its tail around as a cover for Rin. Kagome smiled.

"I count on you to keep Rin-chan safe, AhUn." One of Ah's eyes opened and he snorted before his eye closed once more. She chuckled and moved to look for a place of her own to sleep. Passing the snoring Jaken, She sat underneath a tree and folded her arms for a little more warmth. Her eyes slowly started to close, but suddenly they stopped. Spotting some movement through her nearly closed eyes, she managed to see Sesshoumaru pass each of them silently out of the woods.

_Where is he going? _She wondered, fully opening her eyes and standing back up.

She carefully passed AhUn, Rin, and Jaken, making sure she didn't wake any of them. Being certain that they were still sound asleep, she turned back to the plains and looked around, wondering where Sesshoumaru went. Continuing forward with her determination, she was finally able to find him. Instead of simply spotting him, she wasn't looking at where she was going and bumped into the familiar bunch of fluff. Kagome lightly pushed herself away to see Sesshoumaru looking stoically down at her in his usual silence.

"Oh. H-hi, Sesshoumaru-sama."

"Where do you think you're going, miko?" His voice wasn't very hospitable, she noticed. Her hands clasped gently with the other and she looked down like once before, except not doing so out of fear.

"Don't get me wrong; I'm not trying to escape. I saw you step out and I was wondering where you were going."

"That is none of your concern, human." He stopped himself from snarling.

"I-I see." She looked out at the sky. For once, she was able to see the stars and their shimmering glamour, without the massive, blanketing clouds.

"The stars are beautiful tonight, aren't they?" A response never came. She turned to one side to see Sesshoumaru continue. Without thinking about her next action, her hand shot out and touched his shoulder.

"Wait." A low growl rumbled from his throat. It didn't sound friendly; in fact, it sounded very threatening.

"Gomen-nasai!" Kagome retracted her hand, in fear of him biting it off.

"You have the nerve to touch me..."

"Gomen ne, Sesshoumaru-sama. I just wanted to ask you something. Can I not do that?"

"Originally, you were told not to talk to this Sesshoumaru, but if it will leave me be, you may ask your question." She nodded.

"I've always been curious as to why Rin was always with you; since you hate humans. She told me that she was sure she died, while on her way to visit you, but woke up to see you above her. What I'm trying to say is: did you use the Tenseiga to revive her?"

Nothing.

"Do you care for-"

"If I'm not mistaken, you were only planning to ask me _one _question. I've given you the opportunity to do such, so leave me, human." Kagome glared slightly at him. Her arms twitched, but she kept them at her sides.

"Maybe I only wanted to ask you one, simple question, but the least you could do is answer it."

"I did not hear you specifically ask for an answer, miko."

"You know what? I've had enough of this! _Miko, go get this _and _human, go away_! I know you have a passionate dislike for the human race, but as long as we're traveling together, could you at least try to call me by my name? It's not like we're going to be together for much longer! Oh, and I just remembered, you never gave me a good enough reason as to why you took me away from my friends!" Sesshoumaru quickly turned to threaten her with his sharp gaze, nearly baring some teeth.

"Another word out of you, woman, and I swear I'll-"

"You'll do what, kill me? Go right ahead, _Sesshoumaru-sama_. I'd rather die than be with you any longer!" With that, Kagome stomped off back into the woods. She was no longer in the mood to get her answer. He watched her depart with calm eyes, showing that he wasn't the least bit irritated. He turned back to look at the fields.

Maybe she did bother him to an extent, _a little_.

_Such an impulsive woman. She is really asking to get killed by my hand..._

_**If you dare lay a single claw on her or abuse her, you shall regret it.**_

He growled silently. No, killing the human would be asking too much from _him_.

_It shouldn't be much further. Nearly a whole day of travel left and we'll be there. We're getting close to its coldest as of now. Once this errand is finished, I will no longer have to see that human for as long as I live._

The taiyoukai recalled one other thing as he was. He came up with a solution to his problem and casually walked back to camp. As he passed Kagome, he stopped and silently looked at her. Anger was still written on her face, even as she slept. With not another glance at her, he continued, until stopping in front of Jaken.

"Jaken." His foot kicked into the imp's side, waking him up right away. Seeing Sesshoumaru elevated above him, he got up to his feet.

"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama?"

"I will be arriving to my destination soon. The weather will be getting colder, so take Rin and AhUn back to the castle. Once you do, have AhUn return to me."

"Hai."

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Kagome slowly stirred from slumber. She slowly forced herself awake and pulled from the tree she leaned against to stretch her arms and legs. She was glad to say she had slept fairly well. For once, Kagome felt that today was going to be one of her better days. Nothing in the world could possibly stop her from having a good day.

"It would be nice that you don't take all morning stretching, miko." She sighed.

Except for that. So much for the _perfect _day.

She forced her body to stretch quicker and brought herself back on her feet. She was about to greet Rin a good morning, but found she was gone. While Kagome searched the area, she realized AhUn and Jaken were also nowhere to be found.

"Where did everyone go?"

"I have sent them away, until I am finished with you. Now let us go, I wish to make it before nightfall."

"Wait! What about breakfast?" A smirk slowly began to crease against his face without caring to face her.

"I suppose you will have to handle it." Kagome glared. She was certain he was doing this to her on purpose.

_That should teach the wench to talk back to me._

Barely as they started their travel, Kagome was already feeling the beginning of pain. With not even breakfast in her stomach and given no chance to stop for lunch, the rest of the journey would certainly get worse. How cruel could one possibly be? She had a feeling Sesshoumaru was doing this for her outburst the night before. What other reason could there be?

The weather, to top things off was only getting colder by the minute and by each step. The further they went, later that afternoon, snow flurries began to flutter in the sky. As the weather lowered enough to make Kagome shiver, she watched the snow continue to decorate the edges of the pine forest they recently entered.

Although the weather wasn't ridiculously freezing, it was still crisp enough to see her breath escape within the rest of the atmosphere. In the end, it was good that Rin left; her short kimono wasn't suited for such climate. Where the child left with the imp and AhUn, kami only knew. It was also smart on Kagome's part to wear long sleeves and jeans. If not for that, she was pretty sure that she would be freezing to death by now. Though, this did not mean what she wore kept her entirely in warmth.

_Just where am I being taken and how much longer will I be in this cold? _

Kagome looked out at the dull, cloudy skies. The clouds barely inched above her, as snowflakes continued gliding out from inside them to land on the pines and ground. Giving one last weary sigh, she faced back behind the taiyoukai.

As she did so that moment, she rubbed her eyes in disbelief. Was she seeing more things again?

From a distance, there was a gate stretching out as far as one could see. Stonewalls could be seen from behind, extending above the gate. Toppling over the stone was a massive castle of the darkest grey, accompanied by smooth rooftops of black. The maze of tall pines covered with little snow only complimented with it.

_S-sugoi..._

She looked back at Sesshoumaru. He didn't seem impressed by the amazing feature. Could it be that it was because this was where she was being taken? Like a distressing damsel, Kagome began panicking. Although she was very alarmed, she slowly brought herself back with a shaky fist.

_There's no way I'm going to give in! If Sesshoumaru plans to imprison me, he's going to have to make me!_

It was not until another few moments that they approached the lengthy gate up close. Both sides of the gate's entrance were guarded by two men, each holding spears. Their bodies were adorned in armor and helmets, like that of samurai. The left youkai bore blue eyes and dark brown hair, while the other had brown eyes and blonde hair. The blonde was currently leaning against the gate with his arms folded and his head tilted slightly. The chocolate-haired youkai blinked at the approaching shadows and nudged at the other's side. The blonde groggily woke and turned to growl at him before looking out, understanding at that moment why he was in need. Seeing the arrival of two unknown figures, they held their spears in preparation to fight.

"Who dares to trespass?" The blonde shouted.

"One more step and you'll be finished!" The other yelled after.

Sesshoumaru took one last step into view before stopping to face the guards. He gave both an icy glance.

"Who believes he can stop me?" Behind him, Kagome nearly bumped against him again. Stopping herself from the contact, Kagome peered over one of Sesshoumaru's shoulders, wondering what caused his stop.

Both sentries paled at the sight of him, especially the one that dared to threaten him. They looked at one other in panic before falling to the ground on one knee, bowing their heads.

"Please forgive us, Sesshoumaru-sama, we were only doing our duty."

Kagome watched their actions with interest. They were kneeling like Sesshoumaru was kami-sama himself. This made her feel like she was in the presence of a prince, or a king. It was clearly obvious from the guard's actions that Sesshoumaru was one of higher rank.

The inu-youkai studied their scent of apprehension before looking back at the front of the gate.

"You both are at least taking part in the responsibility. For your apology to this Sesshoumaru, I will not tell him you were sleeping on duty."

The blonde looked up at him, sheepishly nodding in embarrassment. The other smirked before they both stood, separating back to their posts. As if in unison, the bottom of their spears hit the ground as they shouted.

"OPEN THE GATE!"

Kagome watched the actions unfold as the gate started opening. Once the gate opened entirely to the other side, Sesshoumaru continued inside, passing the bowing guards. Kagome watched the descending lord and soon followed after him. Two crossed spears stopped her from going any further, causing her to jump away.

"Who said you could pass?" Both youkai gave her an intense glare. After going through an argument with Sesshoumaru the night before and having no breakfast or lunch, she wasn't planning to have the sentries let her to give up so easily.

"Just what do you think you're do-?"

"Finish that sentence, and we'll be sure to slit that throat of yours, human."

Kagome's eyes slowly became small as dots. She started backing away and waving her hands out at them.

"O-okay, I'm leaving."

"The human is with me..."

Both guards looked at Sesshoumaru with odd expressions on their faces, but nodded, not wishing to bother him further by doubting him. They pulled their spears back and allowed her entrance. Kagome shakily passed both youkai, slowly regaining her composure little by little.

_T-they were actually serious about killing me!_

Youkai of greater level surrounded most of the dull inward lands behind the first gate. Each warrior stood in silence, their blades prepared to impale into any enemy that dare face them. There were two vertical rows extending to the next gate of at least forty-five men on each side. Whoever lived in this castle must have had the military well under control. Sesshoumaru casually passed between them as both sidestepped back. Kagome hesitantly followed, noticing some of them glancing at her as she passed. Most of the emotionless glances she passed in silence caused her to feel uneasy in the stomach. Two other youkai men with swords like the others stood at the front of the smaller gate, but nevertheless, still towering to Kagome. Both guards bowed fluently.

"It's good to see you again, Sesshoumaru-sama." Both men greeted before opening the gate themselves, allowing them entrance, unlike the sentries from before. As Kagome crossed through the gate, her body froze in a stunned stupor.

Snow glided gracefully around the castle, landing on the thin, crunchy surface. Throughout the front, thin cherry blossom trees flowed silently in the chilling draft. Each of the soft petals escaped from the trees they were once attached to and floated with the pale snow, giving a peaceful effect.

_This place, it's so..._

She broke away from her thoughts to see a figure stand a couple feet away. It was another man, but not dressed in armor. He wore nice, thick robes; symbolizing one of more importance than a simple combatant. His dark grey hair stretched to the end of his chin, his messy bangs covering little bits of his dark eyes; he too had pointy ears. The man stepped forward, bringing his arms out in acknowledgment.

"Welcome, the both of you! You are expected." Before Kagome could speak up, the man turned and continued back.

"This way, follow me." The three advanced through the cherry blossom courtyards before standing to face two huge doors. The youkai pushed one of the doors open and stepped in. Sesshoumaru silently followed while Kagome remained, craning her head back to look up at the gigantic castle that towered above her. The youkai's head poked out from the door and spoke, causing Kagome to jump in surprise.

"You mustn't be left behind, Kagome-sama." He disappeared before she could look at him in surprise.

_H-how does he know my name? _No matter. Whatever the reason she was needed, she would be sure to get all the answers.

As they each slipped their footwear to the side before stepping onto the tatami floors, Kagome took this time to look at all the details inside the castle. As they continued, she realized she was no longer cold, but warm again. Inside the castle, it was simple, yet quite intricate in beauty. There had been the occasional painted portraits and few sconces lit against the wall. The castles were just how the school depicted them, except in a newer state than the photos in her textbook. Many youkai in simple, plain kimonos passed them, some holding items from clothes to food. Some of the time on the way, she noticed more guards standing silent and still as statues; that was at least what she thought they were at first before they moved. Their guide, as Kagome dubbed him, stopped for a moment to turn to one side.

"Kisho!"

"Hai?" A short, but fairly old man with little white hair stepped forward from the passing crowds of youkai.

"Your armor seems to be in poor condition. If you wish, Kisho can repair that for you, Sesshoumaru-sama." Sesshoumaru barely considered the opportunity before he started removing what was left of his armor. With the adaptation of one arm, it was amazing what he could do. Though, for the lesser trouble, the youkai stepped up and took the armor from him, handing it to Kisho. Kisho barely tumbled over by its weight by keeping in balance as he walked off.

Sesshoumaru was only left wearing his white kimono and yellow sash. Draping his tail back on his right shoulder, the youkai turned back and continued leading them. This hadn't gone unnoticed by Kagome.

_Sesshoumaru looks different without his armor on._ He did actually look much simpler without the black and silver covering his plain, yet elegant pure kimono.

Kagome mentally pushed herself away from looking at anymore detail that seemed different from the usual Sesshoumaru. Such thoughts were too wrong to be explained in words! If she was able to note such things normally without noticing immediately, then she had been possessed without knowing it. She had no real explanation to check the taiyoukai out, right?

Interrupted once again in deep thought, the youkai stopped in front of a rice-papered door. He stepped forward and knocked gently on it.

"Sesshoumaru-sama and Kagome-sama have arrived."

"Send them in." A voice echoed from the other side. The guide nodded and stepped forward, sliding the door open. He turned and motioned them to step in. As he followed close behind Kagome, she looked at the entire room. It was simple, yet it was another image of perfection to Kagome. To the furthest corner of the room were the contours of a figure leaning against a few pillows. The man in robes stepped forward and stood to the side of Sesshoumaru and Kagome, taking his arm out and bowing.

"May I present to you, Hisato-sama, Lord of the Eastern Lands."

Familiar pale, blue eyes slowly opened from within the shadows and calmly glanced over at them. When they slowly moved to look into Kagome's eyes, she backed away in fear. She felt her skin slowly start to lose its color again.

_N-nani?_

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**Next Chapter**

The youkai has finally come out from hiding! Will all Kagome's questions on this unknowing predicament bestowed upon her finally be answered? As a lord himself, will _Hisato _treat Kagome with as cool of a demeanor as Sesshoumaru?

Visions of Destiny, Chapter 5: **Converse**.

"So you must be Kagome-san."

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Again, I apologize for the few months without update. Not only do I hope these chapters are long enough for those who prefer it, but I also try my best to make this fanfic shine. Also, there's the horrid, six-lettered word. As I can see, this is the longest chapter so far: nearly 20 pgs! There could be chapters in the future as long as previous as or slightly longer than this chapter. It depends on the situation and how I see fit for to be in each chapter. I suppose, what I'm trying to say is, as a friend once told me: _"The amount of pages should not matter, as long as the content in the chapter is good..."_

Anyway, I think I've blabbered on long enough. Oh, I almost forgot! Demon Kaizoku has drawn a picture of Hisato. Don't expect a master-piece, but it should be decent enough to show. I'll let you know more about it in the A/N in the end of Chapter 5. If my scanner is fixed that is...

As for the whole flower symbolism thing, I'm hoping memory serves me right. And the chrysanthemum part, I only know that the red, white, and yellow ones have different meaning... so if the purple one has a separate meaning as well, let's just pretend what I said is correct, shall we?

I'm back at school and I got a 15-pg. Research Paper coming up, due in mid-March. I'm going to see if I can get Chapter 5 completed and posted before I put this to the side for a short time to do my Research Paper. Wish me luck!

With the rate and your kindness to review, I hope to hit 100+ before I post next time!


	5. Holy Crap! Author's Note!

My god...

How long has it been since I last updated?  
Around nine months?

Yeah, sounds about right.

I have no excuses as to apologize to the readers of "Visions of Destiny". Well, I do, but as to put off this fanfiction? Never.

By January of this year, my senior year, things started to stack out of nowhere. I told myself after graduation from high school in May, I would post the next chapter.  
Fat chance, huh?

Yes, then there was summer vacation: all the time in the world for me to work on this.  
And yet, I was being such a lazy ass, finding it troublesome all the time, always putting it off for later.

And before I knew it, I only had two weeks until I hit my junior college.  
And so, for those next two weeks, among other things, I stressed on the fact how and when I'd get to posting the next chapter.

I won't even give you three guesses as to what happened.

Zilch.

And so, as of currently, I'm taking four classes at college this semester weekly, aiming to get a **Bachelor of Fine Arts**.

Alright, I pretty much explained the nine months in a nutshell.

Don't get me wrong, I could _never_ dislike this series, _or_ Sesshoumaru. If I did, my friends would think I've gone mental.

Watchers, those who put this fanfiction on their Author Alert, I need for you to make a decision for me. To make it fair, don't answer through review. **E-mail me**, it's on my Bio.

Does "Visions of Destiny" deserve a second chance, or not?

If I get enough people answering positive and begging for this to continue, I will. However, I'll feel the need to look back on the past chapters. Maybe refurbish a little bit?

And by the way, chances of the Japanese words in this fanfiction remaining is pretty slim. Recently, I read one chapter and realized: despite that I know a little Japanese, it seemed worded oddly and out of place. So unless it's hanyou, youkai, youki, etc. I will be removing the others and replacing them to be english.

That about sums up all I wanted you to know, aside from wishing forgiveness from every single one of you.

Remember, **e-mail**, not review!

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**_ KC_**


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